Epoxy resins are often exposed to prolonged periods of sub-Tg temperatures which cause physical aging to occur. Because physical aging can compromise the performance of epoxies and their composites and because experimental techniques cannot provide all of the necessary physical insight that is needed to fully understand physical aging, efficient computational approaches to predict the effects o...

The exfoliated nanocomposite is of particular interest because it maximizes the interactions between polymers and clays, and thus it should result in dramatic improvements in mechanical and physical properties. However, it seems to be very difficult to exfoliate organoclay in epoxy resins. Organoclay is always aggregated on the micro-scale in epoxy resins with conventional dispersion methods. B...

Experimental studies on epoxies report that the microstructure consists of highlycrosslinked localized regions connected with a dispersed phase of low-crosslink density epoxy. Because epoxies play a major role in many structural applications, the influence of the crosslink distribution on the thermo-mechanical properties must be determined. But as experiments cannot reliably report the exact nu...

Exposure to extended periods of sub-Tg temperatures causes physical changes in the molecular structure of epoxy resins and epoxy-based materials to occur. These physical aging mechanisms include the reduction in free volume and changes to the molecular configuration. As a result, mechanical, thermodynamic, and physical properties are affected in ways that can compromise the reliability of epoxy...

This paper describes a process for the fabrication and positioning of nanowires (of Au, Pd, and conjugated polymers) embedded in thin epoxy slabs. The procedure has four steps: (i) coembedding a thin film of metal or conducting polymer with a thin film of nickel metal (Ni) in epoxy; (ii) sectioning the embedded structures into nanowires with an ultramicrotome ("nanoskiving"); (iii) floating the...

The reinforcing efficiency of SBA-15-type mesoporous silica, when used as additive in epoxy polymers, was evaluated this study. effects silica loading and its physicochemical characteristics on the thermal, mechanical, viscoelastic properties glassy rubbery mesocomposites were examined using SBA-15 silicas with varying porosities (surface area, pore size, volume), particle sizes, morphologies, ...

Abstract Cellulose polymers are widely used to fabricate green composites, implemented as fiber, matrix, and adhesive material between them. In this study, cellulose interphase spherical nanoparticles of hydroxylated alumina (Al 2 O 3 ) epoxy. Molecular dynamics simulations using the large‐scale atomic/molecular massively parallel simulator (LAMMPS) utilized investigate effect content on stiffn...

A new type of phosphonium ionic liquid (trihexyl (tetradecyl) bis(2,4,4-trimethylpentyl) phosphinate core/silica shell microcapsules ([email protected]2) was successfully synthesized by one pot sol-gel process in IL/H2O emulsion and combined to epoxy amine networks as reinforcing fillers. Different amounts [email protected]2microcapsules epoxy-to- stoichiometric ratios were considered order inv...

This paper describes the fabrication of arrays of nanostructures (rings, crescents, counterfacing split rings, cylinders, coaxial cylinders, and other structures) by a four-step process: (i) molding an array of epoxy posts by soft lithography, (ii) depositing thin films on the posts, (iii) embedding the posts in epoxy, and (iv) sectioning in a plane parallel to the plane defined by the array of...