Enhancement of hardness and wear resistance of epoxy-based materials using clay nanoparticles

In this paper, a comprehensive work on the hardness and wear resistance of nanoclay/epoxy composites (NCs) is addressed through analytical and experimental approaches. It was found that the hardness and wear resistance of the NCs increased with increasing nanoclay content. The improvement of mechanical properties of the NCs by increasing nanoclay content was explained by the degree of agglomeration of nanoclay clusters inside the NCs through SEM and XRD investigations. Mathematical models were proposed for the determination of hardness and wear resistance of the NCs in different nanoclay contents from the relationship between the diameter of nanoclay clusters and inter-particle distance.