| Abstrak/Abstract |
The mechanical properties such as the tensile strength, bending strength, impact strength and fracture toughness at room and low temperatures of epoxy/clay composites was investigated in this study. Epoxy/clay composites were prepared by using polymerization method. Epoxy and clay were first mixed and stirred by mechanical stirrer at 80 oC for 2 hours. The clay loading was varied for 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 wt%. 2,4,6-tris[(dimethylamino)methyl]phenol (DMP) as hardener was added into the epoxy/clay mixture and then stirred. This mixture was degassed in the oven to remove the bubble. Epoxy/clay/hardener mixtures were poured into the metal mould to produce some samples such as tensile, bending, impact, and fracture toughness specimens. The mechanical testing at low temperature was done in ice media at 0.6 oC. Results showed that at room temperature testing, the addition of clay of 1 wt% into the epoxy matrix has significantly led to improvement properties in both the tensile strength and bending strength. However, the present of clay more than 1 wt% has drastically decreased the tensile strength and bending strength. At room temperature, the highest value in the impact strength and fracture toughness was observed for epoxy/clay composites with clay content 2 and 3 wt%, respectively. Epoxy/clay composites at low temperature showed lower values in tensile strength, bending strength, impact strength. And fracture toughness compared to that of at room temperature. |
