Thermal and dynamic mechanical properties of attapulgite reinforced poly(butylene succinate‐co‐1,2‐ octanediol succinate) nanocomposites

Attapulgite (ATP)‐reinforced poly(butylene succinate‐co‐1,2‐octanediol succinate) nanocomposites were fabricated using an in situ two‐step polymerization method. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results showed a superior interfacial linkage between ATP and PBS matrix. The isothermal crystallization kinetics results showed that ATP can effectively act as a nucleating agent, resulting in an enhancement on the crystallization temperature and crystallization rate. The incorporation of ATP nanoparticles probably induced heterogeneous nucleation that made the lower activation energy. The equilibrium melting temperature ( ) of the ATP reinforced branched copolymer also had little difference with the homogeneous PBS. The temperature at an initial thermal degradation was improved for the ATP reinforced branched nanocomposites. The dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) results showed that there was a significant increase of storage modulus (E′) in an overall temperature range of all ATP reinforced nanocomposites. ATP had a strong effect on the elastic properties of the homogeneous PBS matrix. POLYM. COMPOS., 34:1126–1135, 2013. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers