[en] PA nanocomposites are prepared from clays organophilized with a phosphonium and an ammonium salt, and sodium montmorillonite is used as reference. The analysis of mechanical and micromechanical properties of the composites reveal that several micromechanical deformation processes occur in the PA/MMT composites. The matrix cavitates at relatively small stress. Processes related to non-exfoliated clay structural units are initiated at larger stresses. Sound is emitted mainly by the fracture of particles, but debonding may also occur. The plastic deformation of the matrix dominates at larger stresses and deformations. The various local deformations are independent of each other and composite properties are not determined by silicate related processes but by the deformation of the matrix.
Center for Education and Research on Macromolecules (CERM)
The National Scientific Research Fund of Hungary ; The Walloon Region in the frame of the FINECLAY program ; Politique Scientifique Fédérale (Belgique) = Belgian Federal Science Policy ; the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences