Development of optimum combination of mmt clay reinforced composite

Abstract

The Montmorillonite (MMT) clay toughened epoxy (85%)/unsaturated polyester (15%) polymer blend system is developed. Studies on Mechanical, Thermal and Damping properties are conducted to determine the effect of the variations of MMT clay on the polymer blend. The Mechanical property studies showed that 3% clay reinforced polymer blend system exhibited optimum results, while the Damping property studies showed that 4% clay reinforced polymer blend system exhibited optimum results and Thermal property studies revealed that 5% clay reinforced polymer blend system exhibited optimum results. The prime objective of this work is to validate the obtained experiment results and to identify the best-fit combination. The results are validated by using Design Expert Version 8 Software. Validation of the experimental results, indicate negligible variations with the software generated results. Since different variations of clay percentages are achieved for different properties, a decision table is constructed to determine the best-fit combination suitable for the selected applications.