The Laws of 2D-Nanofiller Aggregation in Polymer Nanocomposites

The aggregation process of 2D nanofillers (organoclay and graphene oxide (GO)) is studied within the framework of micromechanical models. The degree of aggregation of these nanofillers, expressed as the number of individual plates in one aggregate (tactoid), is determined by the ratio of the nominal moduli of elasticity of the nanofiller and the matrix polymer. It is found that increasing the first of these moduli leads to an increase in the degree of aggregation, whereas increasing the second one, leads to its reduction. This means that it is practically impossible to obtain exfoliated (separate) graphene plates in a polymer matrix. Both the studied polymer/2D nanofiller nanocomposites are reinforced with separate nanofiller aggregates, which is the optimal variant of reinforcing them.