Patent ID: 8338522

Claim:
A process of making a polymer nanocomposite, the process comprising the steps of: exfoliatably contacting a melt comprising a polymer to a mixture comprising an organoclay or organosalt and a swelling liquid, wherein the swelling liquid comprises from 25 wt % to less than 95 wt % of the mixture and the swelling liquid comprises more than 90 weight percent (wt %) water and from 0 wt % to less than 10 wt % of a water-miscible organic solvent, to provide a distribution of the organoclay or organosalt in the melt; and cooling the distribution to provide a polymer nanocomposite comprising the organoclay or organosalt and the polymer, the organoclay or organosalt comprising a cation exchanging layered material, organic cations, and inorganic cations, the cation exchanging layered material having a cation exchanging capacity that is from 40% to 99% exchanged with the organic cations, and the organoclay or organosalt, when distributed in the polymer, being exfoliated and having at least one dimension that is less than 100 nanometers (nm); the process further comprising a step of removing at least 90% of the swelling liquid from the polymer nanocomposite .