Polystyrene/Polyolefin Elastomer Blends Loaded with Halloysite Nanotubes: Morphological, Mechanical, and Gas Barrier Properties

Herein, a simple melt-blending method is utilized to disperse of halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) in polystyrene/polyolefin elastomer (PS/POE) blends. Based on morphological studies, the PS/POE/HNT nanocomposite containing up 3 phr HNTs shows excellent nanofiller dispersion, while those filled with 5 exhibit aggregation. To overcome aggregation issue, polypropylene-grafted-maleic anhydride (PP-g-MA) compatibilizer added nanocomposite, which results improved mechanical properties for sheets. Furthermore, addition compatibilized PS/POE blends leads decreased O2 and N2 gas permeabilities. Besides, incorporating POE, HNTs, PP-g-MA decrease water vapor transmission PS. In end, experimentally-determined permeabilities sheets are compared predicted by prevalent theoretical models, revealing good agreement between experimental results. Molecular-dynamics simulations also carried out calculate diffusion coefficients different further support findings this study. Overall, PS/POE/HNT/PP-g-MA fabricated work demonstrate barrier properties; hence, can be used as candidate packaging materials. However, strength resulting blend may inferior that virgin