Nanocomposites of epoxidized soybean oil (ESO)-based epoxy (DGEBA) blends and clay platelets: cured with methylhexahydrophthalic anhydride crosslinker

Abstract

The effect of Closite C93A nanoclay on the mechanical, thermal properties of diglycidyl ether bisphenol A (DGEBA) epoxy resin and epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) bioepoxy blend at various wt.% (10, 20, 30) cured with anhydride hardener (MHHPA) existence of 2-methylimidazole (2-MI) as an accelerator was investigated. The DGEBA/ESO blend systems optimized through the mechanical properties. The 20 wt.% DGEBA/ESO blend systems exhibited higher tensile and impact strength incorporation of 0.5–2.5 wt.% C93A nanoclay. The curing reaction of DGEBA blends and its nanocomposites with MHHPA, 2-MI was explored by non-isothermal differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The thermal stability of DGEBA/20%ESO blend enhanced by loading of 2.5 wt.% C93A nanoclay which restrict the flexibility of chain and obstructed the decomposition process. The formation of exfoliated inside the clays in the DGEBA/ESO/2.5%C93A nanocomposites corroborated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis.