Morphology, rheological and protective properties of epoxy/nano-glassflake systems

The effect of the glassflake nanoparticles on the rheology, morphology and protective properties of epoxy/glassflake nanocomposites has been studied in this work. Mechanical mixing and sonication process were used to incorporate nano-glassflakes (NGF) into the epoxy. Effects of the time and method of mixing on the morphology and dispersion quality of NGF/epoxy were studied by means of scanning electron microscopic (SEM). Results showed that a 30 min mechanical mixing followed by a 30 min sonication is a best mixing process to design nano-scale glassflake composites. The rheological analysis of epoxy pre-polymer/NGF dispersions indicates that an addition of NGF up to 1 wt% forms microstructure and improves the rheological properties. Barrier properties of the epoxy/NGF coated samples were evaluated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) as a function of immersion time in a sodium chloride solution (5 wt%). The experimental results showed that the barrier properties of the epoxy/NGF coating systems improved by an increase of the NGF content up to 0.5 wt%.