EFFECT OF NANOPARTICLES ON MORPHOLOGY DEVELOPMENT, RHEOLOGY AND PROPERTIES OF EPOXY/LAYERED SILICATE NANOCOMPOSITES

摘要

The effect of the organoclay nanoparticles on the rheology and development of the morphology and properties for epoxy/organoclay nanocomposites has been studied. The interlayer spacing increases with the temperature of cure. An intercalated morphology was obtained for the lowest cure temperature (120°C) and an exfoliated morphology was obtained for cure temperatures between 130 and 170°C. The viscosity of the resin at 120°C is too high for intergallery diffusion and delamination. This is corroborated by the rheology of the systems. Comparison of the flexural properties for intercalated versus exfoliated nanocomposites shows a larger gain in the modulus for the exfoliated system(49% in the best case compared to 17% for the intercalated systems).