Mechanism of fatigue failure of clay-epoxy nanocomposites.

This work investigates the fatigue behaviour and the mechanism of fatigue failure of an epoxy resin with a dispersion of modified layered silicates in the polymer matrix. The fatigue properties are very important for structural application of nanocomposite materials. Clay-epoxy nanocomposites were successfully synthesized with a commercially available 1-Methylimidazole curing agent. The XRD and TEM findings demonstrated a pattern of clay morphology typically found in nanocomposite systems. The fatigue performance and fatigue failure mechanism of the clay-epoxy materials were studied under repetitive bending loads. The results showed that the fatigue life of filled epoxy improved significantly at strain amplitudes below a threshold value. The E-SEM observations of the epoxy and the clay-epoxy fracture surfaces showed different patterns. In conclusion, the addition of silicate strongly determines the fracture mechanism and enhances the fatigue performance.