Ultra-high enhancement in the toughness of polyethylene by exfoliated natural clay nanosheets

The full exfoliation of inorganic natural clay was engineered in a nonpolar polyethylene following a novel method without the involvement of any chemical modification to the surface of silicate layers. Tensile results showed that the toughening effect was dependent of strain rates, and the toughness of polyethylene was substantially improved by nearly five times with 0.5 wt % natural clay nanosheets at a strain rate of 0.15 s−1. Toughening mechanism was also discussed based on this new exfoliated system