Effects on the thermal properties of nanoclay addition to hybrid composites

Abstract

In recent years, observing the advances in nanotechnology, many attempts have been made in using nanoparticles in nanoclay resin to improve thermal conductivity, and some success has already been achieved. In this study, the thermal properties and experimental results of a composite wall made of glass/carbon/glass layers with nanoclay epoxy resin in between thereof at different ratios (0.50, 0.75 and 1.25% by volume) were obtained and compared with those of the plain sample. For this purpose, thermogravimetric (TG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analyses and heat conduction tests of the prepared samples were performed. Experimental results show that their thermal conductivity increased by about 7.88% with 0.75 wt% addition of nanoclay. Also, TG analysis results showed that the lowest mass loss was observed in the samples with 0.75% nanoclay with a value of approximately 18.32%. In the DSC results, the highest glass transition temperature of 433°C and the highest crystallization temperature of 553°C were observed in the 1.25% nanoclay-added samples.