Preparation and characterization of epoxy/organoclay nanocomposites

ROMINA OLLIER; MARCELA ELISABETH PENOFF; MATIAS LANFRANCONI; VERA ALVAREZ

Riva del Garda

Congreso; Frontiers in Polymer Science; 2015

Epoxy resins generally possess a combination of properties that make them particularly suitable for a variety of applications, such us, in adhesives, coatings, electronics, high performance composite materials, and aerospace industries due to their excellent mechanical and chemical properties. Epoxy resins reinforced with nanoclays have received great attention. It is well known that the enhancement in the nanocomposite properties strongly depends on the level of clay dispersion in the polymer matrix; however, untreated bentonite is not easily dispersed in most polymers because of its hydrophilicity and incompatibility with organic polymers. For this reason, clays can be organically modified through ion exchange reactions to facilitate the intercalation of polymer chains into the interlayer galleries and therefore facilitate the formation of an exfoliated structure.In this work, epoxy-amine based nanocomposites with different loadings of an organically modified bentonite were prepared and their properties were investigated. The epoxy resin was a diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A and the curing agent was triethylenetetramine. We employed neat bentonite and bentonite modified with tributyl(hexadecyl) phosphonium salt to obtain the composites. The structure of epoxy/organoclay nanocomposites was studied, together with the thermal and mechanical properties, and the water uptake degree. Additionally, the influence of the addition of nanoclays in the kinetics and structural parameters of an epoxy ? amine based composite was studied. A kinetic model was proposed with the aim of understanding the influence of each species in the reaction mechanisms.