Interactions between Different Nanoparticles Used as Binary Reinforcements in Polymer Nanocomposites

Abstract

Interaction between commonly used nanoparticles as reinforcement in epoxy and their subsequent influence on properties of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A epoxy SC- 780 resin system was studied. Montmorillonite nanoclay Nanomer® I.30E (MMT) and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) were combined at different concentrations with amino functionalized graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) into two binary systems; (a) 5 wt. % hBN and 0.1 wt. % GNP; and (b) 3 wt. % MMT and 0.1 wt. % GNP. Effect of each binary system on mechanical, viscoelastic and thermal stability properties of SC-780 epoxy composite was investigated and results compared to that of unmodified and composites with identical loading of individual nanoparticles. Mechanical, viscoelastic and thermal properties were characterized using three-point flexure test, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) respectively. Binary nanoparticles infusion resulted in nominal increase in flexural strength, however, significant increase in flexural modulus was realized. Storage modulus however increased up to 9% for hBN/GNP samples and remained statistically unchanged in MMT/GNP samples. There was slight reduction in glass transition temperatures in all nanocomposites compared to unmodified system. All nanocomposites showed enhanced dimensional stability at elevated temperatures compared to unmodified epoxy composite.