Synthesis and characterization of epoxy based hybrid nanocomposites

Abstract

The main aim of the present study is to improve the properties of newlineindustrially valuable diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A DGEBA epoxy resin newlineby toughening the epoxy resin with bio based linseed vinyl ester fatty amide newlineand ether linked bismaleimide and reinforced using organically modified newlinemontmorillonite OMMT clay alumina and carbon black to obtain newlinenanocomposites meeting the requirements of high performance applications newlineOrganic intermediates such as linseed vinyl ester fatty amide LVEFA C4 ebismaleimide newlineand C8 ebismaleimide were synthesized using appropriate newlinechemicals with suitable reaction conditions and their structures were newlineascertained by FTIR and NMR newlineOrganically modified montmorillonite OMMT clay reinforced newlinelinseed vinyl ester fatty amide LVEFA epoxy nanocomposites were newlineprepared via insitu polymerization of LVEFA with DGEBA epoxy resin newlineusing varying percentages up to 5 wt of OMMT clay Data obtained from newlinedifferent studies such as thermal thermomechanical mechanical dielectric newlineand morphological properties indicate that the OMMT LVEFA DGEBA newlineepoxy nanocomposites possess better properties than those of neat newlineLVEFADGEBA due to the inherent nature of OMMT clay An incorporation newlineof linseed vinyl ester fatty amide to epoxy resin decreases the thermal stability newlineand reduces tensile and flexural behaviour due to the plasticization effect newlineimparted by linseed oil vinyl ester The rubbery phase imparted by linseed oil newlinemodified epoxy act as an impact modifier which absorbs more impact energy newlinein addition to high energy dissipation during the crack propagation leads to newlinedelayed catastrophic failure resulting in high impact strength In order to newlineobtain synergism between mechanical and thermal properties LVEFA newlineDGEBA epoxy blends were reinforced with OMMT clay newlineThe enhancement of tensile flexural impact strength and modulus newlinewas reasonably ascribed to the high resistance exerted by the high modulus newlineOMMT clay platelets against the plastic deformation and the stretching newlineresistance of oriented polymer backbone in the galleries newline newline