0000000000309176
AUTHOR
Luis Manuel León
Incorporation of Silica Nanospherical Particles in Epoxy–Amine Crosslinked Materials II. Dynamic Mechanical Measurements of Epoxy Matrix-Silica Nanocomposites
The mechanical strengths of epoxy composites reinforced with silica nanospheres, unfunctionalised or functionalised with either amine or epoxy groups, increase up to a proportion of 5 wt.% of filler, as reflected in a study of the shear storage modulus carried out in dynamic mechanical analysis. This improvement is observed in both glassy and rubbery states, moderately affecting the glass transition temperature of the material. From this percentage of strengthening substance the mechanical properties begin to deteriorate, but keeping (up to 10 wt.% of strengthening material), a greater storage modulus in shear than that of the pristine epoxy resin. A trend can be discerned as the percentag…
Dynamic Mechanical Measurements of Epoxy Matrix-Silica Nanocomposites II
The mechanical properties of epoxy-silica nanocomposites have been studied; the silica nanosphere fillers used were un-functionalised, functionalised with amine, with epoxy, or a mixture of both kinds. Dynamic mechanical analysis measurements revealed an increase in the shear storage modulus, for all samples with a filler content of 3–5%. Improvements were observed in the glassy and rubbery states, without affecting the glass transition temperature of the materials. Above these strengthening percentages, the mechanical properties began to deteriorate, but in all cases they remained superior to those of the pristine epoxy resin. For low strengthening percentages, samples reinforced with bot…
Modeling Studies of the Phase Behavior of Monomer/Polymer/Disk Composites
The model developed by Balazs et al. to explain the phase behavior of polymer/clay composites is extended to monomer/polymer/clay composites, obtaining an expression for the free energy of a monomer/polymer/thin-disk mixture. By minimizing the free energy and calculating the chemical potentials of the three system components, phase diagrams for the monomer/disk and monomer/polymer/disk mixtures are contructed. Through the evolution and comparison of these diagrams, the effects of nanodisk size, polymer molecular mass and interaction parameters (temperature) on mixture stability and attained morphology are then studied.