In order to make montmorillonite (MMT) nanosheets disperse in low-density polyethylene (LDPE) with highly homogeneous orientation, alternating voltage is applied to molten LDPE with MMT nanosheets. The effect of electric field on the dispersion of MMT in the solidified LDPE is studied. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses suggest that the MMT nano- sheets are aligned with high anisotropy to the electric field direction, which is perpendicular to the LDPE film plane. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results reveal that the crystallization degree of the oriented LDPE/MMT composite increases. Moreover, through a broadband dielectric spectroscopy analyzer, it is found that MMT manifests a significantly influence in the dielectric property of the oriented composite: the dielectric constant and loss tangent of the composite both become larger. Analysis shows that the electric field-induced torque caused by the polarization of MMT flakes is the main force inducing the orientation of the MMT flakes.
