Abstract: The nanocomposite was synthesized through melt intercalation method, with waste high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and montmorillonite (MMT) as materials. The preparation conditions were all evaluated for the impact of thermal-oxidative aging and combustion performance. The result showed that the thermal-oxidative aging performance decreased significantly and the combustion property enhanced when HDPE composite with MMT/organic montmorillonite (OMMT). The thermal-oxidative aging performance of the HDPE/OMMT nanocomposite had no significant change, the combustion performance of the HDPE/OMMT nanocomposite increased first then tends to gentle with the increase of cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB), OMMT, maleic anhydride (MAH) and dicumyl peroxide (DCP) amount. When the amount of CTAB, OMMT, MAH and DCP is 1%, 3%, 1.5% and 1.5% respectively, the limiting oxygen index of the HDPE/OMMT nanocomposite could reach 19.4%, and the combustion performance is the best.

Key words: waste high-density polyethylene, montmorillonite, nanocomposite, oxidative induction time, limited oxygen index