Improving the water resistance of epoxy-anhydride matrices by the incorporation of bentonite

CAPIEL, GUILLERMINA; UICICH, JULIETA; ALVAREZ, VERA; MONTEMARTINI, PABLO

POLYMERS FOR ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES

JOHN WILEY & SONS LTD

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2017 vol. 28 p. 886 - 896

1042-7147

poxy?anhydride-based polymers are commonly used as a matrix in pipeline systems exposed to water during theirin-service life. Water absorption at moderate temperatures and/or at long exposure times could lead to irreversiblehydrolysis reaction decreasing considerably the polymer overall performance. A strategy to enhance the barrierproperties of epoxy resins is to add nanofillers to traditional matrices. In this work, we added bentonite and chemicallymodified bentonite to this purpose. Water absorption of the resulting materials at three different temperatures(22°C, 80°C, and 93°C) was studied, and simultaneously, the evolution during the immersion tests of glasstransition temperature and flexural modulus was recorded. Long-term gravimetric results showed that compositeswith chemically modified bentonite produce a delay on the hydrolysis of epoxy?anhydride matrix, which is a relevantresult, because of the tough application and uses of the system, from the technological point of view.