EFFECT OF CURING AGENTS AND CURING CONDITIONS ON INTERCALATION AND EXFOLIATION BEHAVIOR OF EPOXY/CLAY NANOCOMPOSITE

Effects of curing agents and curing conditions on the intercalation and exfoliation behavior of epoxy/clay nanocomposites were investigated. Five curing agents used were DETA,DDM,DMP-30 and two modified amines. The curing degree and distance between layers of the clay were measured by FT-IR , XRD and TEM respectively. It was found that epoxy resin is easy to intercalate the clay,but clay exfoliation in epoxy resin was dependent more on the curing conditions than on the curing agents. When the curing speed of epoxy resin interlayers is faster than that of extralayers and fully reaches curing, exfoliation easily takes place, and epoxy/clay nanocomposites can be prepared.