Author:
Velmurugan R.,Karthikeyan K.
Abstract
This work presents the experimental study of free vibration and damping characteristics of Polyester/Clay Nanocomposites (PCN). PCN are prepared by dispersing Un-modified Montmorillonite clay (UMT) and organically modified Montmorillonite clay (MMT) in polyester resin and subsequently cross-linked using Methyl Ethyl Keton Peroxide (MEKP) catalyst at different clay concentrations (1,2,3, and 5Wt. %). The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) show the increasing interlayer d-spacing of both UMT and MMT which indicates the intercalated composites. Tensile test result shows that the tensile strength and modulus are increased by 55% and 43% for 5Wt % of MMT clay concentration respectively. The impact energy and heat deflection temperatures are increased by 68.27% and 25% for MMT clay respectively. The DMA studies reveal that the storage and loss modulus are increasing monotonically with increase of clay concentration. The Impulse technique and Logarithmic decrement method are used in experimental modal analysis and it is seen that increase of Wt. % of clay in polyester matrix increases the natural frequency and damping characteristics of MMT.
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