Polymer/clay nanocomposites based on aliphatic–aromatic polyamide containing thiazole ring and new organomodified nanosilicate layers: Synthesis, characterization, and thermal properties study

New polyamide/clay nanocomposites (PACN) were produced using semicrystalline polyamide (PA) containing thiazole ring and new organoclay (OC) through solution intercalation technique. For further study, PA/Cloisite‐15A nanocomposites (PAAN) were also prepared using PA and Cloisite‐15A. X‐ray diffraction (XRD), field emission‐scanning electron microscopy (FE‐SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results showed a good dispersion for OC in the PA matrix. A meaningful decrease in intensity of absorption from ultraviolet–visible spectra as well as from fluorescence emissions of resulted PACN were observed. As thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) in nitrogen atmospheres showed, the T₅ and T₁₀ increased by about 57% and 36%, respectively for PACN containing 5 mass% of OC, as the char yield enhanced greatly, which was about 16.3% higher than the neat PA. Also the TGA results showed that PACN had higher thermal stability than PAAN. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis exhibited higher glass‐transition temperature values (T_g) for PACN as compared to the neat PA. POLYM. COMPOS., 39:E1407–E1420, 2018. © 2017 Society of Plastics Engineers