Reinforced networked polymer/clay alloy composite
AssigneesAlberta Research Council, Nilex, Inc.
InventorsZhihong Zhou, John Donald Payzant, Walter Van Woudenberg
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Abstract
A reinforced networked polymer/clay alloy composite is produced by contacting a monomer/clay mixture with a reinforcing agent. The monomer/clay mixture comprises a monomer, a cross-linking agent and clay particles. An initiator means is used to initiate polymerization of the monomer/clay mixture, while the cross-linking agent concurrently acts to network oligomeric and polymeric species formed during polymerization to produce a networked polymer/clay alloy in the presence of the reinforcing agent. The networked polymer/clay alloy is intimately integrated with the reinforcing agent such that, on exposure to water, the networked polymer/clay alloy swells with substantially no clay separating from the composite.
Claims18
A reinforced networked polymer/clay alloy composite comprising a networked polymer/clay alloy, wherein the alloy is a chemically integrated composition of polymer and clay, and the alloy is intimately integrated with a reinforcing agent so that, when the composite is immersed in deionized water, at a temperature in a range of from about 20° C. to about 30° C., the alloy swells with substantially no clay separating from the composite.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.