Flexural response of nanoclay-modified epoxy polymers / Aidah Jumahat ... [et al.]

Epoxy resin is one of the most common polymer matrices, used in a wide range of applications. Cured epoxy exhibits brittle behaviour and low fracture toughness when subjected to mechanical loadings. The aim of this work was to study the effect of nanoclay on the flexural stress-strain response and flexural properties of Epikote 828 and aerospace grade-Cycom 977 polymers. Three-point bending tests were conducted on two polymer nanocomposite systems which contained 1-5 wt-% montmorillonite nanoclays. The white clay powder used in this study had a mean dry particle size of 8-10 μm before the mechanical stirring or milling process was performed. It was found that the slope of the stress-strain curves increased with increasing nanoclay content. This indicates that nanoclay enhanced the flexural modulus of the epoxy. The results showed that the degree of reinforcement depends on the degree of nanoparticles dispersion in the epoxy.