LAUSR

Abstract This work is to develop a novel nanocomposites with high gas barrier properties. The permeability is reduced by aligning the magnetic nanoplatelets into a highly oriented manner in brominated butyl rubber (BIIR) latex via a low magnetic field. Iron oxide (Fe 3 O 4 ) nanoparticles were deposited on the surface of montmorillonites (MMTs) modified with γ-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) and octadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (OTAB) to produce m-OMMTs nanocomposites. The morphology and microstructures of the prepared m-OMMTs and m-OMMTs/BIIR highly ordered nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray power diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and transmission electron microscope (TEM). Systematic characterization demonstrated that APTES was chemically bonded onto MMTs and Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles and further confirmed the bond formation between Fe 3 O 4 and MMTs platelets, which could ensure the adhesion between the Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles and MMT platelets. The modified magnetic MMT nanoplatelets (m-OMMTs) were added into BIIR latex and aligned in a low magnetic field T m =80 mT. Besides, a ellipsoidal shell model was presented to estimate the minimum magnetic field strength for aligning m-OMMTs in BIIR latex. Finally, the helium permeability measurements were performed by GDP-C gas permeation apparatus. It can be observed that the new method was proved very useful to align m-OMMTs embedded in polymer matrix leading to a highly ordered composite with excellent gas barrier properties.