Development of Benzoxazine-based Nanocomposite Molding Compound

摘要

Benzoxazine-based nanocomposites are a new class of materials that offer excellent mechanical and thermal properties. While these materials are of interest to a variety of industries, they remain challenging to process using traditional composites manufacturing techniques. To achieve optimal properties, the nanomaterial must be well dispersed through the matrix and this dispersion must be maintained throughout the cure cycle. Traditional mixing techniques struggle to achieve adequate dispersion and are unable to improve the materials ability to maintain dispersion throughout cure. In this work, a twin-screw extruder was used to blend benzoxazine resin with carbon nanostructures (CNS), while simultaneously increasing the degree of cure of the benzoxazine resin. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and parallel plate rheology were used to characterize the degree of cure and rheological behavior of the nanocomposite. Degree of cure and nanocomposite viscosity at 75 °C increased with increasing extruder temperature and screw speed, however nanocomposite minimum viscosity remained unchanged across all processing parameters.