The Preparation of Epoxy Nanocomposites with Highly Exfoliated Montmorillonite and Its Properties

The preparation of highly exfoliated montmorillonite epoxy nanocomposites were reported by the combination of high-shear mixing in the presence of acetone and ultrasonication.Random dispersion of the individual silicate nanolayers in the epoxy was confirmed by XRD and TEM images.The mechanical and thermal mechanical properties were also investigated,and it is indicated that,the impact strength and elastic modulus are significantly increased with the increase of montmorillonite content,however,the tensile strength and elongation at break are reduced;the storage module increases remarkably with increased montmorillonite concentration,and shows more significant improvement of storage modulus in rubbery state than in glassy state.