Preparation of Polyethylene/α-Zirconium Phosphate Nanocomposites via a Well-Controlled Polyethylene-Grafted Interface

It is a daunting task to prepare polyolefin nanocomposites that contain well-exfoliated nanoplatelets due to the nonpolar and high crystallinity nature of polyolefins. In this research, a robust approach was developed to prepare polyethylene (PE) nanocomposites by grafting maleated polyethylene (MPE) onto pre-exfoliated α-zirconium phosphate (ZrP) nanoplatelets via a simple amine-anhydride reaction to form ZrP-g-MPE. Several variables, including maleic anhydride (MA) content, MPE graft density, MPE molecular weight, and PE matrix crystallinity, were investigated to determine how they influence ZrP-g-MPE dispersion in PE. It was found that grafted PE has a different morphology and that the long PE brushes with medium graft density on ZrP can achieve sufficient chain entanglement and cocrystallization with PE matrix to stabilize and maintain ZrP-g-MPE dispersion after solution or melt mixing. This leads to enhanced Young’s modulus, yield stress, and ductility. The structure–property relationship of PE/ZrP-g-MPE nanocomposites and usefulness of this study for the preparation of high-performance polyolefin nanocomposites are discussed.