Thermomechanical behavior of high performance epoxy/organoclay nanocomposites

Abstract

Nanocomposites of epoxy resin containing bentonite clay were fabricated to evaluate the thermomechanical behavior during heating. The epoxy resin system studied was prepared using bifunctional diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA), crosslinking agent diaminodiphenylsulfone (DDS), and diethylenetriamine (DETA). The purified bentonite organoclay (APOC) was used in all experiments. The formation of nanocomposite was confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis. Specimens of the fabricated nanocomposites were characterized by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). According to the DMA results a significant increase in glass transition temperature and storage modulus was evidenced when 1 phr of clay is added to epoxy resin. © 2014 Artur Soares Cavalcanti Leal et al.