Degradation properties of the epoxy nanocomposite caused by a gamma-ray irradiation

This paper describes the degradation properties of bisphenol A type epoxy with a carboxyl-terminated butadiene-acrylonitrile (CTBN) and nano-clay. For evaluation of degradation by radiation, gamma rays of 500 kGy, 1000 kGy, and 1500 kGy were used to irradiate the samples at the dose rate of 8 kGy/hr. The degradation properties of the gamma-ray irradiated samples were measured using a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). In the TGA experiment, as the absorption dose increased and the heating rate decreased, the thermogravimetry-derivative thermo gravimetry (TG-DTG) curves of the samples rapidly decreased. As the absorption dose increased, the activation energy of the epoxy decreased sharply, but that of the samples to which clay had been added tended to decrease initially and then increase at 1500 kGy.