Mechanical properties and water uptake of epoxy-clay nanocomposites containing different clay loadings

Nanocomposites based on diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) epoxy reinforced with 1-10 wt% I.30E nanoclay were fabricated using high shear mixing technique and characterized to determine the effects of clay loading on their mechanical, thermal, and water uptake properties. The XRD and TEM analyses revealed that the structures of the resultant nanocomposites were a combination of disordered intercalated and exfoliated morphologies. Tensile strength increased for nanocomposite containing 1 % clay loading and decreased for higher nanoclay loading. Unlike strength, the stiffness increased almost linearly with clay loading, showing 46 % improvement in modulus of elasticity for nanocomposites containing 5 % of nanoclay. Water uptake measurements indicated enhancement in the barrier properties of epoxy matrix as nanoclay loading increased from 1 up to 5 wt%.