Optimization studies on mechanical properties of montmorillonite (mmt) clay filled epoxy/polyester nanocomposite

In the present paper, the unsaturated polyester (UP) toughened Epoxy blends with inter-cross-linked networks are developed and characterized. Montmorillonite (MMT) clay is dispersed into the system to prepare blended epoxy/UP/clay nanocomposites in different weight ratios viz. 0%, 1%, 2%, 3%, 4% and 5%. Blended nanocomposites are fabricated by hand-layup technique. In this work, high shear mechanical mixing followed by ultra-sonication process is used to get homogeneous mixing under the aid of in situ polymerization. Characterization of mechanical properties such as tensile strength (TS), impact strength (IS), flexural strength (FS) and Rockwell hardness (Rc) of nanocomposites carried out in this study. Mechanical properties are studied as per ASTM standards. Data obtained from mechanical studies indicate that the epoxy/UP/clay combination improved the mechanical properties to an appreciable extent. The experimentation is further undergone to factorial analysis to extract the absolute optimal values of % clay-filled blend nanocomposite. One factor design in Response surface method is suitably applied for validation analysis of experiment data. The objective of this study is to identify a suitable nanocomposite which offers low-cost, high strength and environment-friendly material, that can be applied in making light weight components for automobile parts, transportation systems and consumer products