Studies of organoclays with functionalized pillaring agents

Abstract

A series of clay pillaring agents with amino, olefin, and epoxy groups were synthesized. These pillaring agents were used to modify montmorillonite clay by ion-exchange reactions. TGA studies showed that organoclays with imidazolium pillaring agents have a higher thermal stability than those with ammonium groups. The d-spacings of organoclays were not affected by the pillaring agent functional groups and were sensitive to the size of pillaring agents. The dynamic-mechanical properties of the resulting clay/epoxy composites determined by DMA were similar. The addition of these clays to this epoxy resin enhanced the T g value of the resulting composites and greatly enhanced the storage moduli versus the pure epoxy resin by 1.6-1.8 times at 135