Enhanced Mechanical Properties of Glass Fiber/Epoxy Composites using Nanoclay

In this current work, an analysis was carried out to evaluate the effects of Cloisite 25A montmorillanite (MMT) nanoclay fillers in epoxy resin with respect to tensile, flexural and impact properties. The nanocomposites were prepared by adding nanoclay in various weight percentages (0-10 wt.% in the step of 2) with the epoxy resin. According to the mechanical testing, the 2 wt.% MMT clay loading nanocomposite showed the maximum improvement in the tensile, flexural and impact strengths of nanoclay/epoxy composite, while the maximum improvement in the tensile and flexural moduli was observed for the 8 wt.% nanoclay-filled composite. In addition, with the help of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) the chemical analysis, morphological properties and dispersion pattern of MMT nanoclay/Epoxy was carried out. The chemical analysis of FTIR spectroscopy demonstrated that similar peaks were attained with minimum variations to all clay loadings nanocomposites. It is evident that no chemical modification was happened between polymer and nanoclay. Besides, an interpretation of microscope images of SEM testing disclosed that the incorporation of lower MMT nanoclay loading improved the appreciable surface property.