Inorganic nanosizing of thermoset polymeric matrix composites

This work focused on the reactive nanosizing of organic nano silicate layers with several thermoset polymers including cyanate ester and phenol resins. Nano particles based on montmorillonite were incorporated into the resin systems at 3-6wt% and analyzed during and after cure in order to identify the nanosizing effects of reactive intercalation and electrical characteristics. When the cyanate ester resin was mixed with the clays specifically treated with active hydroxide, they seemed to form an unstable iminocarbonate during mixing, and subsequently prevented from cyrstallization of cyanate resin monomers and from reassembly of silicate layers. This reactive intercalation during the mixing process seemed to facilitate the disordered dispersion of layered silicates in the following process of polymerization reaction. Dielectric permittivity and ionic conductivity of phenolic nanocomposite systems were also investigated by nanosizing the ionic clay platelets with phenolic resin, and the conductivity of the nanocomposite increased by the two orders of magnitude.