Nanoclay was dispersed in acetone and an epoxy solution with a high pressure mixing (HPM) method to form pastes. The basal spacing of the nanoclay was increased as observed from X-ray diffraction (XRD) data in these pastes. The epoxy-clay nanocomposites based on tetraglycidyl-4, 4'-diaminodiphenylmethane (TGDDM) cured with diaminodiphenyl sulphone (DDS) were synthesized. XRD results showed that nanoclay platelets dispersed in the TGDDM-DDS system was exfoliated or intercalated. The fracture toughness of the TODDM-DDS system were greatly improved by adding nanoclay into the epoxy system with the HPM method; that is, the critical stress intensity factor (K_(1C)) and critical stain energy release rate (G_(1C)) were increased by 2.2 and 5.8 times respectively at 4.5-phr (about 3% wt) clay loading over the pristine resin properties. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) was applied to elucidate the toughening in the nanocomposites.
展开▼
