Analysis of the cure of epoxy based layered silicate nanocomposites: Reaction kinetics and nanostructure development

Molecular Mobility in Hyperbranched Polymers and Their Interaction with an Epoxy Matrix

The molecular mobility related to the glass transition and secondary relaxations in a hyperbranched polyethyleneimine, HBPEI, and its relaxation behaviour when incorporated into an epoxy resin matrix are investigated by dielectric relaxation spectroscopy (DRS) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Three systems are analysed: HBPEI, epoxy and an epoxy/HBPEI mixture, denoted ELP. The DRS behaviour is monitored in the ELP system in three stages: prior to curing, during curing, and in the fully cured system. In the stage prior to curing, DRS measurements show three dipolar relaxations: γ, β and α, for all systems (HBPEI, epoxy and ELP). The α-relaxation for the ELP system deviates significantly from that for HBPEI, but superposes on that for the epoxy resin. The fully cured thermoset displays both β- and α-relaxations. In DMA measurements, both α- and β-relaxations are observed in all systems and in both the uncured and fully cured systems, similar to the behaviour identified by DRS.

Comparison of the Nanostructure and Mechanical Performance of Highly Exfoliated Epoxy-Clay Nanocomposites Prepared by Three Different Protocols

Three different protocols for the preparation of polymer layered silicate nanocomposites based upon a tri-functional epoxy resin, triglycidyl para-amino phenol (TGAP), have been compared in respect of the cure kinetics, the nanostructure and their mechanical properties. The three preparation procedures involve 2 wt% and 5 wt% of organically modified montmorillonite (MMT), and are: isothermal cure at selected temperatures; pre-conditioning of the resin-clay mixture before isothermal cure; incorporation of an initiator of cationic homopolymerisation, a boron tri-fluoride methyl amine complex, BF₃·MEA, within the clay galleries. It was found that features of the cure kinetics and of the nanostructure correlate with the measured impact strength of the cured nanocomposites, which increases as the degree of exfoliation of the MMT is improved. The best protocol for toughening the TGAP/MMT nanocomposites is by the incorporation of 1 wt% BF₃·MEA into the clay galleries of nanocomposites containing 2 wt% MMT.

A New Epoxy-Based Layered Silicate Nanocomposite Using a Hyperbranched Polymer: Study of the Curing Reaction and Nanostructure Development

Polymer layered silicate (PLS) nanocomposites have been prepared with diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A (DGEBA) epoxy resin as the matrix and organically modified montmorillonite (MMT) as the clay nanofiller. Resin-clay mixtures with different clay contents (zero, two, five and 10 wt%) were cured, both isothermally andnon-isothermally, using a poly(ethyleneimine) hyperbranched polymer (HBP), the cure kinetics being monitored by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The nanostructure of the cured nanocomposites was characterized by small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and their mechanical properties were determined by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and impact testing. The results are compared with an earlier study of the structure and properties of the same DGEBA-MMT system cured with a polyoxypropylene diamine, Jeffamine. There are very few examples of the use of HBP as a curing agent in epoxy PLS nanocomposites; here, it is found to enhance significantly the degree of exfoliation of these nanocomposites compared with those cured with Jeffamine, with a corresponding enhancement in the impact energy for nanocomposites with the low clay content of 2 wt%. These changes are attributed to the different cure kinetics with the HBP, in which the intra-gallery homopolymerization reaction is accelerated, such that it occurs before the bulk cross-linking reaction.