Crucial Role of Covalent Surface Functionalization of Clay Nanofillers on Improvement of the Mechanical Properties of Bioepoxy Resin

Despite the unique mechanical strength and adhesion properties of epoxy resins, they still suffer from poor toughness and brittleness inducing poor resistance to cracks. Herein, we report an efficient method of synthesis of bioepoxy resin nanocomposites filled with highly exfoliated epoxy-grafted montmorillonite. The filled resin network was produced by covalent incorporation of a binary nanocomposite (MMT-PGMA) synthesized via in situ photoinduced polymerization of glycidyl methacrylate, into a Bioepoxy resin matrix to design a ternary nanocomposite (MMT-PGMA/Bioepoxy) and this in the presence of a green polyamine used as curing agent. The materials structure and morphology were characterized by FTIR, TGA, XRD, SEM, and TEM which show the key role of the MMT surface modification on its interfacial adhesion with the epoxy resin. The results showed that the clay interlayer d-spacing increases from 1.23 nm to more than 2.2 nm upon grafting of the polymer. The homogeneous solvent-free dispersion of hybrid clay nanofillers, via sonication process, enhanced remarkably the bioepoxy resin glass transition temperature (T-g) by 26.5 degrees C. This can be rationalized by both the nanofillers fine dispersion and the chemical surface reactivity ensuring strong interfacial adhesion with the matrix.