Significant and concurrent enhancement of stiffness, strength, and toughness for paraffin wax through organoclay addition

The effect of a organoclay with paraffin wax, in the enhancement of the stiffness, strength, and toughness of nanocomposites, was analyzed. Thermal locations for the phase transitions of organoclay-paraffin wax nanocomposites at various clay concentrations were compared by differential scanning calorimetry thermograms. It was observed that with increasing clay concentrations, tensile strengths of nanocomposites composed of polymer matrices, increase accordingly and the Young's modulus was also found to increase. Addition of clay to polymers can increase the brittleness of the composites relative to the virgin polymers. Increased elongation at break was also observed for some polymer matrices which attributed to strong interaction of nano-meter-sized filler with matrices. It was concluded that a modified organoclay can be exfoliated and dispersed in paraffin wax with the aid of additives resulting in nanocomposites with greatly enhanced barrier properties relative to the matrix.