Factors Influencing the Morphology Development of Epoxy Nanocomposites

Polymer nanocomposites draw great interest due to their unique nanostructures and improved properties [1–2]. Epoxy is a widely-used thermosetting material. The research on the epoxy layered-silicate epoxy nanocomposite has exploded in the last decade [3–9]. The morphology of nanocomposites is the key to making high-performance nanocomposites. In this presentation, the factors influencing the morphology development behavior of epoxy nanocomposites will be discussed. The factors to be investigated include organoclay, epoxide, and curing agent. In this study, the aliphatic diamine (Jeffamines) with different molecular weights and aromatic diamine were selected as the curing agents, S30B (quaternary onium-montmorillonite) and SC18 (primary oniummont-morillonite) as the organoclays, and Epon 862 and Epon 828 as epoxides. In situ small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) was utilized to study the morphology development of the epoxy nanocomposite.