Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
819246 Composites Part B: Engineering 2010 6 Pages PDF
Abstract

We investigated the effects of clay silane treatment on the fracture behaviors of clay/epoxy nanocomposites by comparing the compliance, critical fracture load, and fracture toughness of silane-treated samples with those of untreated samples. The fracture toughnesses of untreated and silane-treated clay/epoxy nanocomposites were 8.52 J/m2 and 15.55 J/m2, respectively, corresponding to an 82% increase in fracture toughness after clay silane treatment. Tensile tests were performed at −30 °C, 25 °C, 40 °C, and 70 °C. Tensile strength and elastic modulus were higher at −30 °C than at 25 °C for both samples. However, the tensile properties decreased as temperature increased for both samples. In particular, at 70 °C, the tensile properties were less than 10% of the original value at room temperature, independent of surface treatment. The fracture and tensile properties of silane-treated clay/epoxy nanocomposites increased due to good dispersion of the clay in epoxy and improvement in interfacial adhesive strength between epoxy and clay layers.

Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Engineering Engineering (General)
Authors
, , , ,