Physical and tribological properties of a new polycarbonate-organoclay nanocomposite

A new polycarbonate (LS2) nanocomposite containing a 3 wt% proportion of the organically modified montmorillonite bentone 2010 (B 2010) has been prepared by extrusion and injection moulding, and its tribological properties determined under a pin-on-disc configuration against stainless steel. The nanocomposite (LS2 + 3% B 2010) presents a 88% reduction in friction and up to two orders of magnitude reduction in wear rate with respect to the base polymer. The new nanocomposite has been characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), and its thermal and dynamic mechanical properties have been determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) techniques. The nanocomposite shows a uniform dispersion of the nanoclay as pointed out by two different statistical methods. The good tribological performance of the new nanocomposite is attributed to this uniform microstructure and to the increase in the nanoclay stacking distance.