Abstract
Liquid epoxy resins have received much attention from both academia and the chemical industry as eco-friendly volatile organic compound (VOC)-free alternatives for applications in coatings and adhesives, especially in those used in households. Epoxy resins show high chemical resistance and high creep resistance. However, due to their brittleness and lack of thermal stability, additional fillers are needed for improving the mechanical and thermal properties. Halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) are naturally abundant, inexpensive, and eco-friendly clay minerals that are known to improve the mechanical and thermal properties of epoxy composites after suitable surface modification. Zirconium is well known for its high resistance to heat and wear. In this work, zirconium oxide-impregnated HNTs (Zr/HNTs) were added to epoxy resins to obtain epoxy composites with improved mechanical and thermal properties. Zr/HNTs were characterized by field-emission transmission electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Changes in the thermal properties of the epoxy composites were characterized by thermo mechanical analysis and differential scanning calorimetry. Furthermore, flexural properties of the composites were analyzed using a universal testing machine.
Highlights
Liquid epoxy resins are widely used as structural adhesives and coating materials due to their low cost, good workability, volatile organic compound (VOC)-free eco-friendliness, good adhesion, heat resistance, electrical insulation, chemical resistance, and excellent weather resistance
Zirconium oxides were impregnated on halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) by a wet impregnation method, with the objective of improving the performance of HNTs as a filler material in epoxy composites
The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) values of the epoxy composites decreased with increased filler (HNT, zirconium oxide-impregnated HNTs (Zr/HNTs))
Summary
Liquid epoxy resins are widely used as structural adhesives and coating materials due to their low cost, good workability, volatile organic compound (VOC)-free eco-friendliness, good adhesion, heat resistance, electrical insulation, chemical resistance, and excellent weather resistance. Most epoxy resins need additional fillers to realize improved mechanical and thermal properties, because of their inherent brittleness and industrial requirements. Various inorganic materials have been used as fillers to improve the mechanical and thermal strengths of epoxy composites [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]. HNTs are naturally abundant, inexpensive, and eco-friendly They are known to improve the mechanical properties of epoxy composites after proper surface modification, and lack of surface modification can lead to poor nanotube dispersion and inefficient stress transfer [2].
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