Electrical Conduction and Dielectric Properties of Epoxy/Organophilic Clay Nanocomposite

In order to develop electrical insulation material, organically modified layered silicate was incorporated into an epoxymatrix to prepare nanocomposite. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observation showed that organophillicclay was in an exfoliated state, while hydrophilic clay was not dispersed into nanolayers within the epoxy matrix.Epoxy/organophilic clay (2.8 wt%) nanocomposite was mixed and cured at 150℃ for 4.5 hr. I-V characteristics,volume resistance and dielectric properties for the cured nanocomposite were estimated. Current density increasedwith increasing temperature, and volume resistance decreased with increasing temperature, in neat epoxy and epoxy/organophilic clay (2.8 wt%) nanocomposite. As frequency increased, the dielectric loss value decreased in the twosystems.