Revolutionizing Nano clay Dispersion in Vinyl Ester: A Novel Experimental Approach with Ultrasonication and Twin-Screw Extrusion

Dispersion of nano clay has been one of the latest areas of research in the field of nanocomposites. The purpose of this study was to evolve an optimum mixing technique that leads to uniform dispersion of nano clay in vinyl ester resin. Specifically, five combinations of incremental mixing intensity were applied to five groups of composites that were made of Nano clay/vinyl ester/Glass composites. In all groups of 4 wt. % of montmorillonite clay (MMT) was dispersed into vinyl ester. Changes in mechanical property associated with each mixing combination were tested through ultimate tensile strength (UTS). Finally, an optimum mixing combination was proposed. This study will be a meaningful addition to the current nanocomposites research literature because few studies were comprehensive ones where various mixing combinations were compared and ultimately an optimum mixing technique was recommended. The dispersion was studied through SEM