Influence of thixotropic agent and storage time on rheological properties of E-44epoxy resin

The effects of hydrophilic nano-silica, bentonite and their combination on the rheological properties of E-44 epoxy resin were studied using viscosity and thixotropic index as the characterizing parameters. The effect of storage time on the rheological properties of E-44 epoxy resin systems containing different thixotropic agents was also analyzed. The results showed that the two thixotropic agents have obvious thickening and thixotropic effects to the E-44 epoxy resin systems,especially,the thickening effect and storage stability were more excellent by adding 3 phr hydrophilic nano-silica and 6 phr bentonite in the system.