Barrier property of clay/acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymer nanocomposite

The resistance to air permeation was investigated for an intercalated clay/acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymer nanocomposite. The nanocomposite is prepared by melt mixing the organo-treated montmorillonite into a rubber matrix, together with peroxide curative, and crosslinked by conventional compression molding for typical rubbers. In the case of intercalated nanocomposite, the air permeability decreases considerably with increasing clay content, and the decreasing trend agrees reasonably with the Neilson's tortuous model. No considerable improvement is found when the pure montmorillonite is added.