Parametric investigation of effective elastic properties of exfoliated polymer/clay nanocomposites using a developed mean-field model

A theoretical model is developed to describe the effective elastic modulus of the exfoliated polymer-clay nanocomposites (PCNs). The clay layers are assumed as rectangular cuboid, which are randomly dispersed in the composite. The geometric and mechanical properties of the clay layer, the interphase layer, and the matrix have been considered to analyze the effect of microstructural parameters on the effective strength of PCNs. The predictions of the presented model for experimental data are compared with the Halpin-Tsai model. Furthermore, the experimental elastic modulus and predicted behavior from the theoretical model of the mechanical properties of PCNs are in reasonable agreement.