Enhancing Conductivity and Mechanical Properties in Epoxy Composites Through Generating Percolated Structures Using Novel Acoustic Pre‐Mixing Method

ABSTRACT Advanced engineered materials are being used to explore and exploit harsh environments, requiring improvement in composite materials. This paper investigated the use of a novel resonance acoustic mixing (RAM) method for pretreating organo‐modified montmorillonite (MMT) clay to enhance dispersion/exfoliation in epoxy composites. Additionally, this work explored possible synergistic multifunctional effects and property enhancement when mixing carbon black (CB) and MMT. Additional comparison with other non‐solvent dispersion methods included the combination of heat and high shear methods for achieving partial exfoliation. The non‐solvent combination of acoustic pre‐mixing and high shear resulted in a nearly 20% increase in storage modulus due to the enhanced partial exfoliation of MMT. Synergistic interactions between CB and MMT resulted in an order of magnitude improvement in conductivity while increasing storage modulus between 7% and 17% when compared to 2 wt% CB and 2 wt% MMT, respectively. This improved conductivity and mechanical strength are attributed to the formation of percolated structures involving CB and MMT interactions confirmed using transmission electron microscopy.