Performance of Novel Engineered Materials from Epoxy Resin with Modified Epoxidized Natural Rubber and Nanocellulose or Nanosilica

Abstract

Performance of new engineered material from epoxy resins with modified epoxidized natural rubber (ENR) and nanofillers were investigated. ENR from renewable natural crop resources is a type of green material with potential to partially substitute or replace and toughen petrochemical-based polymers. Nanocomposites (epoxy resin/ENR/fillers nanoparticles) were characterized with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), dynamic light scattering (DLS), atomic force microscope (AFM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Comparison of characterized and mechanical properties of nanofiller reinforced with both nanocellulose and nanosilica were studied. The nanocomposites were characterized for their mechanical properties (e.g., impact strength, tensile strength) and thermal degradation behaviour by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). Mechanical property investigation results show that, the impact strength of nanocomposites, can be improved by blending in ENR 50 mixed with nanofiller, relative to the baseline nanocomposite mixers. The nanofiller loading in epoxy composite showed the highest improvement in mechanical properties at 0.75 phr (parts per hundred of resin). Effects of accelerated weathering aging were evaluated, and the observed changes were larger with nanosilica than with nanocellulose filler. Here, the accelerated aging increase in tensile properties was found to be 10% after 14 days in both nanofillers, while the other mechanical properties did not change significantly. These nanocomposites are expected to have high wear rates limiting their service life.

Application of nanocellulose composites in the environmental engineering: A review

“…Composites of nanocellulose and organic polymers have a sophisticated structure of high mechanical strength, intermolecular and intramolecular hydrogen bonds, and the capability of presenting a stiff, tight, and strong structure. Several polymeric matrixes, including epoxy resins [121], polyurethane [122], polystyrene-co-butadiene [123], polyethylene oxide-co-epichlorohydrin [124], polyvinyl acetate [125], and polystyrene-co-butyl acrylate [126], have been strengthened by nanocellulose. These organic composites are fabricated with the aid of a range of approaches, such as impregnation of the solution [127], hot pressing, freeze-drying, [128], and compression molding [129], among which casting is widely employed [130][131][132].…”

Application of Nanotechnology in Wood-Based Products Industry: A Review

“…However, it can easily fail under impact because of the highly cross-linked structure [ 89 ]. With the addition of the functionalised nanocellulose as the reinforcing material, the mechanical properties of epoxy-based cellulose nanocomposites have been enhanced significantly [ 90 , 91 ]. An approach has been conducted to prepare epoxy-cellulose nanofibre composites with an oriented structure [ 92 ].…”

Naturally or artificially constructed nanocellulose architectures for epoxy composites: A review

“…The open-pore structure of aerogels can ensure the formation of a bicontinuous phase structure of cellulose and epoxy. The forming process of 3D cellulose/epoxy composites can also be classified into two methods: (1) VARI technology [156]; (2) direct dipping [128,129] and nanoscale CNFs [121,134,135], nanoscale CNCs/CNWs [113,114,[136][137][138][139][140].…”