DEVELOPMENT OF HYBRID HYDROPHOBIC COMPOSITES BASED ON BENTONITE AND POLY(VINYLSTEARATE)

Abstract

Hybrid polymer composite (HPC) is a solid structure composed by two or more phases with different nature, which has been used in the modification and development of surface. Thus, it has been possible to obtain materials with different waterproofing, anti-fungal and anti-stain properties, among others. The objective of this work was to build hydrophobic polymer films from bentonite and poly(vinylstearate) for potential applications in waterproofing covering. For that, N-vinylbenzyl-N-triethyl ammonium chloride was used for the formation of chemically-activated clay core by insertion technique in solution. Later, HPCs were synthesized from different amounts of modified bentonite and equal amount of vinylstearate (VE). Finally, polymer films were obtained by dissolution-evaporation technique. All mixture was deposited in a mold and dried at 30 °C per 24 h. Polymer films were characterized by FT-IR/ATR, elemental analysis and measurements of contact angle. Thus, it was possible to produce an increasing in the surface hydrophobicity of material by the insertion of bentonite in the polymer matrix of VE. The results showed the possibility to obtain hydrophobic polymer films based in bentonite and poly(vinylstearate) with potential waterproofing applications.