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Role of interfacial chemistry on the rheology and thermo-mechanical properties of clay-polymer nanocomposites for building applications

  • Hieu-Thao Huynh EMAIL logo , Karim Benzarti and Myriam Duc
Published/Copyright: April 5, 2012
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Chemical Papers
From the journal Chemical Papers Volume 66 Issue 5

Abstract

This study is directed towards investigating the role of the surface treatment of clay particles on the rheological and thermomechanical behaviour of clay-epoxy blends. Nanocomposites were prepared by mixing small amounts (5–10 mass %) of commercial organoclays or raw clays with an epoxy system commonly used in civil engineering. Rheological characterisations in the liquid state revealed a pronounced thixotropic character of the organoclay-based systems, which all exhibited a shear-thinning behaviour above a critical stress threshold (yield stress), depending on both the intensity of interfacial interactions and the degree of filler dispersion. On the other hand, systems based on raw clay particles behaved like Newtonian fluids, in the same way as the unreinforced polymer matrix. Complementary dynamic mechanical analyses (DMA) performed on the cured cross-linked nanocomposites also showed significant changes in the viscoelastic behaviour of the epoxy matrix due to the introduction of organoclays, whereas only minor variations were observed following the introduction of raw fillers. These results were consistent with nanoscale morphological characterisations performed by conventional X-ray diffraction (XRD) on the various hybrid systems. In this context, rheology and DMA appear as attractive alternative methods for assessing the filler dispersion at a macroscopic (and possibly more relevant) scale. This research is of practical interest for civil engineers, since clay reinforced-epoxies could in the future be used as coating materials with enhanced barrier performances, in order to protect infrastructures against environmental ageing or corrosion.

Keywords: coatings; nanocomposites; organoclays; epoxy; rheology; DMA; particle dispersion; exfoliation; XRD

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Published Online: 2012-4-5
Published in Print: 2012-5-1

© 2011 Institute of Chemistry, Slovak Academy of Sciences

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https://doi.org/10.2478/s11696-011-0118-y
Keywords for this article
coatings; nanocomposites; organoclays; epoxy; rheology; DMA; particle dispersion; exfoliation; XRD

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Ultrathin organic, inorganic, hybrid, and living cell coatings — Topical Issue
  2. Functional polymer thin films designed for antifouling materials and biosensors
  3. In-situ polymerized molecularly imprinted polymeric thin films used as sensing layers in surface plasmon resonance sensors: Mini-review focused on 2010–2011
  4. Design of polyglycidol-containing microspheres for biomedical applications
  5. On the interfacial chemistry of aryl diazonium compounds in polymer science
  6. Polypyrrole coating of inorganic and organic materials by chemical oxidative polymerisation
  7. Spectroscopy of thin polyaniline films deposited during chemical oxidation of aniline
  8. Ultrathin functional films of titanium(IV) oxide
  9. Sol-gel thin films with anti-reflective and self-cleaning properties
  10. Nanostructured electrocatalysts immobilised on electrode surfaces and organic film templates
  11. Influence of adsorbed oxygen on charge transport and chlorine gas-sensing characteristics of thin cobalt phthalocyanine films
  12. Ni-W alloy coatings deposited from a citrate electrolyte
  13. Role of reactive species in processing materials at laboratory temperature by spray plasma devices
  14. Electrodeposition of hafnium and hafnium-based coatings in molten salts
  15. Role of interfacial chemistry on the rheology and thermo-mechanical properties of clay-polymer nanocomposites for building applications
  16. Endothelial cell adhesion on polyelectrolyte multilayer films functionalised with fibronectin and collagen
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