Epoxy/Single Walled Carbon Nanotube Nanocomposite Thin Films for Composites Reinforcement. (May 2009) Graham Leicester Warren, B.S., Texas A&M University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Hung-Jue Sue This work is mainly focused upon the preparation, processing and evaluation of mechanical and material properties of epoxy/single walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) nanocomposite thin films. B-staged e...

The presence of thermal mismatch between different materials of plastic IC packages was found to cause reliability and moldability issues such as delamination and warpage phenomenon. Delamination and warpage between the mold compound and die attach adhesive material were evaluated for Quad Flat No-lead (QFN) package. Evaluation was conducted on two set of different materials combination of epox...

Global energy sources such as coal and oil are limited, and the burning of such fossil resources creates pollution problems. Wind energy offers one of several promising clean alternatives to carbon-based fuels. However, the composite materials currently available for producing wind turbine blades cannot accommodate the scale-up of wind energy due to their high price and disposal challenges (e.g...

Toughening an epoxy resin by bio-based modifiers without trade-offs in its modulus, mechanical strength, and other properties is still a big challenge. This paper presents an approach to modify epoxy resin with tannic acid (TA) as a bio-based feedstock. Carboxylic acid-modified tannic acid (TA–COOH) was first prepared through a simple esterification between TA and methylhexahydrophthalic anhydr...

The influence of surface modifications on the mechanical properties of epoxy-hexagonal boron nitride nanoflake (BNNF) nanocomposites is investigated. Homogeneous distributions of boron nitride nanoflakes in a polymer matrix, preserving intrinsic material properties of boron nitride nanoflakes, is the key to successful composite applications. Here, a method is suggested to obtain noncovalently f...

In this article, the effect of combined temperature-concentration and shear rate conditions on the rheology of double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs)/ RTM6-Epoxy suspension was investigated to determine the optimum processing conditions. The rheological behavior and cure kinetics of this nanocomposite are presented. Cure kinetics analysis of the epoxy resin and the epoxy resin filled with DWCN...

The fracture toughness and uniaxial tensile yield strengths of unmodified and CTBN-rubbermodified epoxies were measured under hydrostatic pressure. The purpose of these experiments was to learn how suppressing cavitation in rubber particles affects the deformation mechanisms and the fracture toughness of rubber-modified epoxy. It was found that the cavitation of CTBN-rubber could be suppressed ...

The focus of this work is the evaluation of the physical compatibility between an epoxy resin used as a matrix and an oxidized, unsized carbon fiber, and between this same epoxy resin and glassy carbon. For this purpose, carbon fibers, glassy carbon and epoxy resin have been assigned Hansen solubility (cohesion) parameters (HSP) by analysis of their interactions with a set of well-defined liqui...

Novel self-repairing Urea-Phenol-Formaldehyde (UPF) microcapsules containing linseed oil were prepared via in-situ polymerization in an oil-in-water emulsion. The main purpose of encapsulation is to control the release of linseed oil, when external conditions such as mechanical stress or energy cause microcapsules to break. These controlled release mechanisms of linseed oil make them suitable f...

The sol-gel technique was used to prepare epoxy/silica nano-hybrids. The thermal characteristics, curing kinetics and structure of epoxy/silica nano-hybrids were studied using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), 29Si nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). To improve the compatibility between the organic and inorganic phases, a coupling agent was used t...