System and method of delaminating a layered silicate material by supercritical fluid treatment
AssigneesFord Global Technologies, LLC, Wayne State University
InventorsCharles W. Manke, Esin Gulari, Deborah Frances Mielewski, Ellen Cheng-chi Lee
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Abstract
The present invention involves a system and method of delaminating a layered silicate to provide improved mechanical properties to select materials such as polymers. The method includes providing particles of the layered silicate and a supercritical fluid. The method further includes contacting the layered silicate particles with the supercritical fluid to define contacted layered silicate particles and catastrophically depressurizing the contacted layered silicate particles to exfoliate the layered particles so that the layered particles are substantially dispersed, defining treated silicate particles.
Claims15
A method of delaminating a layered silicate, the method comprising:
- providing particles of a layered silicate;
- contacting the layered silicate particles with a supercritical fluid to produce contacted layered silicate particles;
- and
- catastrophically depressurizing the contacted layered silicate particles to exfoliate the layered silicate to substantially exfoliate the layered silicate, forming treated silicate particles.
A method of preparing a reinforced polymer, the method comprising:
- providing particles of a layered silicate;
- contacting the layered silicate particles with a supercritical fluid to define contacted layered silicate particles;
- catastrophically depressurizing the contacted layered silicate particles to exfoliate the layered particles so that the particles are substantially dispersed to define a treated silicate;
- and
- incorporating the treated silicate particles with a polymer to form a reinforced polymer.
A delaminated layered silicate comprising:
- exfoliated silicate particles substantially singly dispersed apart from each other by a supercritical fluid,
- wherein each of the particles has a length of between about 50 and 2000 nanometers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.