High density polyethylene and nylon 6 nanocomposites with national bentonite clay were prepared with the melt intercalation technique. Different quaternary ammonium salts were used to obtain the organoclays. The unmodified and modified clays with the salts were incorporated in the polymer matrices and different procedures were used for the modification of clays: for the polyethylene nanocomposites, the clay was prepared with four quaternary ammonium salts and for the nylon 6 nanocomposites only one type of quaternary ammonium salt was used, which had its contents varied in the organophilization of the clay. The objective of this work was to obtain polyethylene and nylon 6 nanocomposites. They were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results indicated that the polyethylene/organoclay systems presented structures of intercalated nanocomposites and/or partially exfoliated. The nylon 6/organoclay systems presented an exfoliated morphology with clay particles dispersed in the matrix.
Nanocomposites; organoclay; morphology; polyethylene; nylon 6
