Understanding the performance of epoxy nano composites - A physico-chemical approach

Abstract

In the present work, the electrical and mechanical properties of epoxy nanocomposite materials were studied. The hydrophobicity of the insulating material was analyzed through contact angle measurement. The diffusion coefficients of the material with different percentage of clay in epoxy nanocomposites were calculated. The exfoliation characteristics in epoxy nanocomposites were analyzed through Wide Angle X-ray Diffraction (WAXD) studies. The thermal behaviour of the epoxy nanocomposites was analyzed by carrying out Thermo gravimetric Differentia) Thermal Analysis (TG-DTA) studies. The tensile test, flexural test, impact test were carried out to understand the mechanical characteristics of the material with different percentage of clay. Heat deflection temperature of the material was measured to understand the stability of the material for intermittent temperature variation. The Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) results indicated that storage modulus of the material increases with small amount of clay in epoxy resin. The activation energy of the material was calculated from the DMA results. The short time insulation breakdown studies of nanocomposite material indicate that the breakdown voltage increases with small percentage of nano clay in epoxy resin. Also, it was shown that the positive DC breakdown voltage is higher than the negative DC voltage, irrespective of the percentage of nano clay in epoxy resin.