Effect of Mixing Condition on Rheological Behavior of Epoxy-Clay Nanocomposites

The effect of mixing on rheological behavior of 6% wt epoxy-clay nanocomposites was studied. The mixing processes were carried out by low shear mixer, homogenizer and ultrasonic and combination of different mixing techniques at medium and maximum power. All these methods led to intercalated structure. The XRD results showed that the ultrasonic has the best effect on dispersion while a low shear mixer has the least positive effect. Opposite to an ultrasonic mixing method, the homogenization process through maximum power does not change the dispersion state significantly. The best condition would be to use an ultrasonic mixer after a homogenizer, otherwise the reverse process may result in lower dispersion. Small amplitude oscillatory measurements were carried out on linear regime over 0.1-100 Hz. According to the fact that rheological responses are very sensitive to polymerparticle interactions and accessible surface area, the slope of storage modulus and shear thinning exponent of viscosity are proportional to the level of dispersion. This implies that more increases in intergallary height may lead to less terminal slope. The continuous relaxation profile and zero shear viscosity were generated by experimental data via computer software based on neural network approach. To check the validity of software, the experimental data were recovered with very low deviation using relaxation spectrum. The experimental observations showed that a solid-like behavior, as a result of better dispersion, can prevent the profile from falling especially at longertimes