OPTIMIZATION OF AN EPOXY NANOCOMPOSITE TOUGHENED BY A COMBINATION OF LIQUID EPOXIDIZED NATURAL RUBBER, CARBON NANOTUBE AND NANOCLAY USING TAGUCHI ANALYSIS METHOD

This paper addresses the effects of operating variables on mechanical properties of epoxy/liquid epoxidized natural rubber (LENR)/ carbon nano-tube/nano-clay nano-composite including tensile strength, impact strength and fracture toughness.The variables were pre-cure temperature, cure temperature, nano-clay content and carbon nanotube content.The experiments were executed based on the design of experiments using Taguchi methods. It is observed that the tensile strength, impact strength and fracture toughness can be optimized with 1.0% of nano-clay loading, 0.6% nano-tube loading, pre-cure at 50oC and cure at 130oC. Confirmation experiments were performed with the optimum parameter settings for each mechanical property. The mechanicals and morphology of the optimum sample were examined by dynamic mechanical analyzer, field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Morphologically, it was observed that fillers of different shapes provide different features on the fracture surface due to different mechanisms in their toughening action. The state of dispersion from morphology and chemical structure results show that the optimum nano-composite obtained in different conditions have an intercalated