Until now, we have seen natural clay giving birth to artful pottery. But this time around scientists have changed its use. A team of scientists led by David Abecassis has developed a substance from natural clay that is an inexpensive, eco-friendly replacement of a compound widely used to make plastic nanocomposites. The new organoclay is capable of making plastic flame retardant, stronger, and more resistant to damage from ultraviolet light and chemicals.
Although quaternary amine organoclays has already been seen as pioneering nanoparticles in the field of plastics nanotechnology, they have many limitations like they are difficult to produce due to the health and environmental risks associated with quaternary amine, high cost, limited use of the materials and need to manufactured in small batches. So in order to overcome these problems, the team has developed the new organoclay using resorcinol diphenyl phosphate.
This new organoclay can be made continuously and is perfect for mass production. In addition, these organoclays are cheaper, generate less dust and are thermostable to much higher temperatures. It can be easily used in styrene plastics and is ideal for flame retardance applications. The researchers claim it to be the world’s first mass producible, low-cost, organoclays for plastics.
Via: Science Daily