Study on preparation and properties of organic-montmorillonite modified epoxy nanocomposites

Montmorillonite (MMT) modified with alkyl ammonium ions was dispersed in an epoxy/methyl nadic anhydride (MNA) system to form epoxy/MMT composites. Processing conditions of the composites were optimized by the orthogonal experimental design. The dispersion of the MMT in the epoxy resins was investigated by X-ray diffraction and AFM. The mechanical and dielectric properties were analyzed. The results showed that with respect to the pure epoxy, the impact strength of the composites was improved approximately 12.4%. The increase of the /spl epsi//sub r/ and tan/spl delta/ with the temperature was delayed owing to the mobility of polymer chains was restricted between the layers of MMT.