Thermal and mechanical performances of diallyl phthalate/clay nanocomposites

Diallyl phthalate (DAP) is one of the most versatile of the thermosetting resins, in practice usually it has been filled by mineral, glass, and synthetic fiber. However, no effects so far have been made toward the development of reinforced DAP by nano-size fillers. In this paper, DAP/clay nanocomposites were prepared, and their structure and properties such as thermal and mechanical properties were investigated in detail by x-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and tensile measurement at first use. Results show that the incorporation of a small amount of clay can effectively decrease the curing temperature of DAP and improve the glass transition temperature and the dynamic mechanical properties of DAP resin as well as the tensile strength and elongation.