SPHERICAL PARTICLES COMPRISING NANOCLAY-FILLED-POLYMER AND METHODS OF PRODUCTION AND USES THEREOF
Methods for producing highly spherical particles that comprise: mixing a mixture comprising: (a) nanoclay-filled-polymer composite comprising a nanoclay dispersed in a thermoplastic polymer, (b) a carrier fluid that is immiscible with the thermoplastic polymer of the nanoclay-filled-polymer composite, optionally (c) a thermoplastic polymer not filled with a nanoclay, and optionally (d) an emulsion stabilizer at a temperature at or greater than a melting point or softening temperature of the thermoplastic polymer of the nanoclay-filled-polymer and the thermoplastic polymer, when included, to disperse the nanoclay-filled-polymer composite in the carrier fluid; cooling the mixture to below the melting point or softening temperature to form nanoclay-filled-polymer particles; and separating the nanoclay-filled-polymer particles from the carrier fluid.
1 . A composition comprising:
nanoclay-filled-polymer particles comprising:
a nanoclay comprising exfoliated clay platelets dispersed in a thermoplastic polymer.
2 . The composition of claim 1 , wherein the exfoliated clay platelets contain 1 to 10 layers.
3 . The composition of claim 1 , wherein the nanoclay is modified with a quaternary ammonium compound.
4 . The composition of claim 1 , wherein the nanoclay-filled-polymer particles comprise about 80 wt % to about 99.9 wt % thermoplastic polymer, and about 0.05 wt % to about 20 wt % nanoclay, based on total weight of the nanoclay-filled-polymer particles.
5 . The composition of claim 1 , further comprising:
an emulsion stabilizer disposed upon an outer surface of the nanoclay-filled-polymer particles.
6 . The composition of claim 5 , wherein the nanoclay-filled-polymer particles comprise about 0.01 wt % to about 10 wt % emulsion stabilizer, based on total weight of the nanoclay-filled-polymer particles.
7 . The composition of claim 5 , wherein the emulsion stabilizer comprises a plurality of nanoparticles.
8 . The composition of claim 7 , wherein the nanoparticles comprise oxide nanoparticles, carbon black, polymer nanoparticles, or any combination thereof.
9 . The composition of claim 7 , wherein the nanoparticles comprise silica nanoparticles.
10 . The composition of claim 1 , wherein the nanoclay-filled-polymer particles have a D50 ranging from about 20 μm to about 80 μm.
11 . The composition of claim 10 , wherein the nanoclay-filled-polymer particles have a diameter span of about 2 or less.
12 . The composition of claim 1 , wherein the nanoclay-filled-polymer particles have a diameter span of about 2 or less.
13 . The composition of claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic polymer comprises a polyamide, a polyolefin, and/or a polyurethane.
14 . The composition of claim 1 , wherein the nanoclay-filled-polymer particles have a circularity of about 0.9 or greater.
15 . The composition of claim 1 , wherein the nanoclay-filled-polymer particles comprise about 0.05 wt % to about 20 wt % nanoclay, based on total weight of the nanoclay-filled-polymer particles.
16 . A composition comprising:
nanoclay-filled-polymer particles comprising a nanoclay and a thermoplastic polymer, wherein at least about 90 wt % of the nanoclay is exfoliated and dispersed in the thermoplastic polymer as 1 layer to 10 layer particles.
17 . The composition of claim 16 , wherein the nanoclay is modified with a quaternary ammonium compound.
18 . The composition of claim 16 , wherein the nanoclay-filled-polymer particles comprise about 0.05 wt % to about 20 wt % nanoclay, based on total weight of the nanoclay-filled-polymer particles.
19 . The composition of claim 16 , further comprising:
an emulsion stabilizer disposed upon an outer surface of the nanoclay-filled-polymer particles, the emulsion stabilizer comprising a plurality of nanoparticles.
20 . The composition of claim 19 , wherein the nanoclay-filled-polymer particles comprise about 0.01 wt % to about 10 wt % emulsion stabilizer, based on total weight of the nanoclay-filled-polymer particles.