Effect of clay surface silylation and dispersion method on the mechanical properties of epoxy-clay composites

Epoxy-clay nanocomposites were prepd. dispersing both pristine and functionalized sodium montmorillonite powders (1 and 3 wt%) in epoxy resin by means of sonication and sonication/ball-milling high energy mixing processes. Silylation reaction of sodium montmorillonite (Na-MMT) was performed by using 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (A1100) and N-2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (A1120) as coupling agents. Morphol. investigations showed that the MMT stacks are only slightly intercalated. However the surface modification of MMT clays improves the interfacial interaction with epoxy resins and the nanocomposites obtained through sonication exhibit enhanced mech. properties compared to the nanocomposites prepd. from pristine Na-MMT. (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics