Preparation and Morphological Study of Epoxy/Silane Modified Nanoclay Nanocomposites

Abstract

Epoxy-clay nanocomposites were prepared using silane modified
 
montmorillonite. The clay was first purified using a 1-inch hydrocyclon
 
apparatus. The purified clay was modified with various amounts of (γ)-
 
3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane as a modifier. The synthesized
 
organoclay was mixed and swollen by a mixture of epoxy resin and
 
stoichiometric amount of curing agent at different temperature, mixing
 
time and agitation. Finally, the compounds were cured in an oven at 90 ºC
 
for 2 h. The nanostructure materials were characterized using X-ray
 
diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The X-ray diffraction
 
patterns showed that the impurities and large particles (greater than
 
5 microns) are removed from the samples. The results showed that
 
interlayer spacing was increased with increasing the amount of modifier
 
and the basal distance in the organoclay was more than 2.1 nm which
 
was larger than that of the original clay (1.24 nm). The X-ray diffraction
 
patterns showed that the interlayer spacing of clay in the nanocomposite
 
was increased and the 001 peak of the Montmorillonite was shifted to
 
smaller 2 theta and in many cases disappeared. The X-ray diffraction
 
and transmission electron microscopy results demonstrated that the layers
 
of clay in the nanocomposite samples were fully exfoliated.