Physical,mechanical,morphological and thermal analysis of styrene-co-glycidyl methacrylate / fumed silica / clay nanocomposites

Styrene-co-glycidyl methacrylate-fumed silica-clay (st-co-gma-fsi-clay) nanocomposites have been prepared via free radical polymerization in the presence of benzoyl peroxide. the nanocomposites are characterized by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ft-ir),scanning electron microscopy (sem),adsorption isotherm,tensile test,thermogravimetric analysis (tga) and moisture absorption. ft-ir shows the si-o-c peak that represented st-co-gma-fsi bonding while si-o-si peak shows the bonding of fsi-clay. the surface morphology shows the well dispersion of clay (1.30e) into st-co-gma-fsi nanocomposite. 2wt% of st-co-gma-fsi-clay (1.30e) nanocomposite has higher specific surface area and average pore volume with less pore size. incorporation of 2wt% of clay (1.30e) improves the tensile strength and modulus of the nanocomposites as well as higher thermal stability and activation energy. 2wt% of st-co-gma-fsi-clay (1.30e) nanocomposite shows the lowest moisture absorption value. © 2017 penerbit utm press. all rights reserved.