| abstract |
A nanocomposite made with an inorganic layered material and anstar-shaped polystyrene that can be blended with normal linear polystyrene isndisclosed. The inorganic layered material can have an exfoliated structure,nsubstantially exfoliated, or intercalated structure. The exfoliated structure cannresult in significantly improved physical properties, even with only a very lowncontent of clay. The invention is also directed to a process that can be used tonmake the compositions of the present invention. In one embodiment, a physicalnmixture of clay and star polymer is prepared and then the mixture is heated fornseveral hours, preferably under high-shear mixing, to increase the rate ofnexfoliation, after which mostly inexpensive commodity linear polystyrenenpolymer completes the composition. |