Nanolayer Reinforcement in Polymer-Clay Nanocomposites

摘要

Smectiter clays are promising agnts for the preparation of nanostructured polymer-clay composites by in situ intragallery polymerization. Epoxy-clay nanocomposites have been synthesized by exfoliating organoclays in an epoxy thermosetting process. The extent of silicate layer separation is governed by the chain length of gallery cations, the clay layer charge density and the acidity of the gallery cations. By using different curing agnts, we have obtained both glassy and flexible epoxy matrices. The mechanical reinforcement provided by the exfoliated clay layers is much more significant in a flexible matrix than in a glassy matrix. For the flexible matrix, both the tensile strength and the modulus of the nanocomposite increased with increasing clay content. The reinforcemdent provided by the 10 A-thick silicate layers at 15 wt