Clay Smectite Synthetic: Characterization and Application in Nanocomposites

Synthetic clays are an option of materials that can be modified to obtain better and specific properties when compared with natural clays. Although clays are found in nature, they have many disadvantages that limit the use of them, such as existence of impurities, and variations in composition. Therefore, the objective of this work was to obtain synthetic clay/polyester resin nanocomposites. To characterize the clay, we used X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Total Attenuated Reflection Spectroscopy in the Fourier Transform Infrared Region (ATR-FTIR) and Scanning Electron Microscope with Field Emission (FEG-SEM) methods and the nanocomposites were characterized by XRD and mechanical resistance to compression. The results show the purity of the clay and the time of synthesis is an important parameter for its crystallization process. The clay/polyester nanocomposites were obtained and showed an increase in the ductility.