Morphological and rheological properties of PET/clay nanocomposites

This work investigates the effects of clay chemistry and concentration on the morphology and rheology of polyethylene terephthalate (PET)/clay nanocomposites. The complex viscosity of the PET nanocomposites exhibited a more solid-like behavior, in contrast to the matrix that had a frequency-independent viscosity. In addition, at high frequencies where the behavior of the matrix should be dominant, a lower complex viscosity of the nanocomposites was observed due to PET degradation in the presence of the organoclays. The high-frequency data were used to estimate the matrix degradation using the Maron–Pierce equation. The apparent molecular weight of the PET matrix was found to decrease from 65 kg/mol for the neat PET to 30 kg/mol for a PET nanocomposite containing 8 wt% Cloisite®; 30B. The apparent yield stress in the nanocomposites was determined using the Herschel–Bulkley model. Yield stress increased with the level of exfoliation and clay concentration, from ～0 to 166 Pa when the clay concentration increased from 2 to 8 wt%.