TY - JOUR TI - X-ray scattering and calorimetric studies of organoclays obtained by ion-exchange AU - Kiersnowski, A. AU - Trelińska-Wlaźlak, M. AU - Gazińska, M. AU - Pigłowski, J. T2 - Polimery/Polymers AB - Structure and thermal behavior of organoclays has important influence on properties of clay-based polymer nanocomposites. Depending on starting materials, i.e. the mineral and amphiphilic compounds, one can obtain organoclays differing in properties. Therefore the careful choice of substrates is the way to predict and tailor ability to accommodate molecules in the interlayer spaces, catalytic activity or thermal stability of these complexes. In this paper, we present results of structural and calorimetric studies of the systems obtained of the synthetic silicate called SOMASIF modified with stoichiometric amounts of three different quaternary alkylammonium salts. SAXS studies clearly indicate that interlayer spacing (d001) of silicate, calculated from the main diffraction maximum, grows strictly linearly with the length of long aliphatic chains bonded to quaternary nitrogen atoms. Further analysis of the diffractograms leads to the conclusion that the ion exchange results in formation of a mixture of three phases with different values of interlayer spacing (d001). Results of DSC measurements suggested that, despite being adsorbed on the surface of silicates, quaternary ammonium cations may undergo phase transitions similar to the moieties in the bulk. The temperature range of these transitionswas however found to be distinctly shifted towards lower values in comparison to the alkylammonium salts alone. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was applied to estimate thermal stability as well as the coverage of silicate surface with amphiphilic molecules. DA - 2011/// PY - 2011 DP - Scopus VL - 56 IS - 9 SP - 671 EP - 675 DB - Scopus KW - DSC KW - Organomontmorillonite KW - SAXS KW - Structure ER -