Influence of Interface on epoxy/clay Nanocomposites: 1. Morphology Structure

A current challenge for the material scientists nowadays is the design and invention of new material systems that have a low weight, low cost but possess high levels of mechanical performance, good design flexibility and processability. This challenge has arisen due to the modern trend of utilizing lightweight and high performance materials, which has the potential to contribute to the advanced future applications, such as in aerospace, automotives, biotechnology, electronics and many more. In this new world, polymer nanocomposites have developed to be one of the latest evolutionary steps in the polymer technology, besides showing a great deal to become the most versatile industrial advanced materials. In comparison with conventional composites, nanocomposites demonstrate significantly higher levels of mechanical performance with less content of particles. The particle interface has been known to play a critical role in conventional composites. Nevertheless, the understanding of the role of interface in morphology polymer nanocomposites remains in its infancy. Thus, this study aims to develop a series of epoxy polymer layered-clay nanocomposites with levels of interface strength by designing chemical reactions or physical entanglements between nanoparticles and matrix polymer. In order to achieve this goal, three types of modifier were adopted: ethanolamine (denoted eth), Jeffamine M2070 (m27) and Jeffamine XTJ502 (xtj). The interface strength was identified through the morphology observation such as X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy of fracture surface, in which later are correlated with various mechanical properties of nanocomposites.