Fabrication and Characterization of High Performance Zinc Acrylate Epoxy Nanocomposites

Zinc acrylate epoxy nanocomposites were prepared using a zinc acrylate and a bifunctional deglycidyl ether of bisphenol A as a epoxy resin. The nanocomposites were based on spherical TiO2 and clay nanofillers with various filler loadings and processed by shear mixing. After mixing procedure¡ the nanocomposites were moulded into a mould and then cured in presence of curing agent. Finally some specimens were fabricated to characterize mechanical properties. The experimental results showed that by increasing nanofillers¡ fracture toughness of the nanocomposites significantly raised indicating a toughening impact resulted from the nanoparticles. Tensile strength also increased by increasing of TiO2 and clay loading. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were applied to reveal structural evolutions and the morphology of the nanocomposites and the results showed that the nanocomposites possessed a high level of homogeneity resulted from a sufficient dispersion of nanoparticles in the resin matrix. Also as a result¡ spherical nanoparticles had better mechanical properties compared to sheet-like nanoparticles.