Interfacial modification of boron nitride nanoplatelets for epoxy composites with improved thermal properties

Interface is a critical factor in determining the properties of polymer composites. Generally, the physicochemical properties of the interface are closely associated with the surface chemistry of fillers. In this study, we report a simple method to fabricate boron nitride (BN) nanoplatelets using a sonication-centrifugation technique and investigate the effects of functionalization BN nanoplatelets on thermal properties of epoxy composites. Two methods have been used for functionalizing BN nanoplatelets: non-covalent functionalization by octadecylamine (ODA) and covalent functionalization by hyperbranched aromatic polyamide (HBP). The functionalized BN nanoplatelets were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR), nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR), thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Epoxy composites were fabricated by incorporating three kinds of fillers: BN nanoplatelets, BN nanoplatelets functionalized by ODA (BN-ODA), and BN nanoplatelets functionalized by HBP (BN-HBP). Our results show that the BN-HBP results in a strong interface and thus the composites exhibit significantly increased glass transition temperature, thermal decomposition temperature, thermal conductivity and dynamic thermal mechanical modulus. BN-ODA produced intermediate interface interaction, resulting in a moderate improvement of thermal properties. The composites with BN nanoplatelets show the least improvements of thermal properties.