Simple “Kink” Model of Melt Intercalation in Polymer-Clay Nanocomposites
- 28 May 2001
- journal article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review Letters
- Vol. 86 (22), 5073-5075
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.86.5073
Abstract
We propose a simple semiphenomenological model to describe the dynamics of polymer melt intercalation in the gallery between the adjacent clay sheets in polymer-clay nanocomposites. Within this model, the intercalation process is driven by the motion of localized excitations ("kinks") which open up the tip between the clay sheets. These kinks belong to a novel type of solitonlike excitations that appear due to the interplay between the double-well potential of the clay-clay long-range interaction, bending elasticity of the sheets, and external shear force. We find that the kink solutions can exist only if applied shear is sufficiently strong, in a qualitative agreement with experimental data.Keywords
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