Study on the thermal and mechanical properties of epoxy-nanoclay composites: The effect of ultrasonic stirring time

Epoxy-clay nanocomposites were synthesized with organophilic montmorillonite and diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A by using the in-situ polymerization under ultrasonic treatment. The clay layers were found to be separated further with the increase in the duration of ultrasonic stirring as measured from the X-ray diffraction measurements. Thermogravimetric analysis provided the fact that the maximum thermal decomposition temperatures increased with the increase in the duration of ultrasonic stirring. However, both the glass transition temperature and the storage moduli of the composites decreased with the increase of ultrasonic stirring time as measured from the dynamic mechanical analysis. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.