Moisture effect on deformability of epoxy/montmorillonite nanocomposite

Abstract

Abstract In this article the moisture effect on deformability of epoxy/montmorillonite nanocomposite was investigated. The change of fracture character and drop of elastic characteristics due to moisture absorption was observed. The estimation of filler morphological peculiarities (platelet stack constitution) in composite and its effect on nanocomposite elastic properties was undertaken. It is shown that the higher number of filler platelet per stack consistently leads to the decrease of nanocomposite elastic properties. Nevertheless prediction by micromechanical model is rough for moistened nanocomposite because of resin structural changes. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010