A Comparative Study Of Mixing Technique For Nanocomposite Filled Geopolymer Yusrina Mat Daud 1 , Kamarudin Hussin 1 , Che Mohd Ruzaidi Ghazali 1 , Azlin Fazlina Osman 1 , Mohd Mustafa Al Bakri Abdullah 1 , Sinar Arzuria Adnan 1 , Nurhidayah Ahmad Zaidi 1 1 School of Materials Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, 02600, Jejawi, Perlis, Malaysia yusrina@unimap.edu.my Abstract— The effects of mixing approach on compressive properties, water absorption and morphology of the epoxy nanocomposites incorporating 0 and 3 wt% fly ash-based geopolymer were investigated. The mechanical stirrer with two different type of propeller; four blade (type A) and dissolver (type B) was used to blend the epoxy with the nanoclay and the fly ash- based geopolymer filler. It was found that the epoxy nanocomposite prepared using dissolver propeller (type B) performed higher compressive strength as compared to the one prepared using four blade propeller (type A). We postulate that this was due to an improved mixing efficiency and dispersion quality as observed through Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) Keywords— epoxy, compressive, montmorillonite, fly ash, geopolymer, nanocomposites, dissolver strirrer I. INTRODUCTION Epoxy resins have been widely employed as matrix material due to their ease of processing as well as versatility for numerous applications [1]. Many of researchers reported epoxy has successfully enhanced mechanical properties when incorporating with nanoparticles such as montmorillonite organoclay, nanosilica, carbon nanotubes and nanofibres [2]. However, the structure and properties of nanocomposites are influenced by processing method to disperse the filler or nanoparticles in an epoxy matrix. Numerous methods, such as mechanical stirring, high shear mixing, ultrasonic; ball milling and solvent mixing have been practiced by many authors in an attempt to obtain a homogeneous dispersion of nanofiller in the nanocomposite [3-5]. Among these processes, high speed shear mixing reported to result in better mechanical properties of the polymer-based nanocomposites as compared to other techniques such as ultrasonic mixing [6]. In this study, epoxy-layered silicate nanocomposites were developed based on Digilcydyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA), and contained montmorillonite as the nanofillers with the addition of 3% optimum fly ash geopolymer filling. The aim of this work is to study the effect of two different mixing propeller, which are four blades (type A) and dissolve stirrer (type B) on the mixing efficiency, filler dispersion quality and mechanical performance of the epoxy nanocomposites incorporating MMT and the fly ash-based geopolymer. II. MATERIALS AND METHOD The epoxy resin which is based on Digilcydyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) chemical compound was supplied by Euro Pharma and employed as the matrix material. Isophorondiamine (IPDA) was used as curing agent to harden the nanocomposites, and it was supplied by DrRahmatullah Sdn. Bhd. The nanoclay used was montmorillonite surface modified with 35-45 wt.% dimethyl dialkyl (C14-C18) amine, which was supplied by Sigma Aldrich. The raw fly ash-based geopolymer filler with sizes range 50-100μm was obtained from Arab Saudi. A series of nanocomposite with 3% nanoclay content with 0% and 3% of fly ash based geopolymer were prepared by mixing and compounding using mechanical stirrer with two different shear mixing propeller; four blades (type A) and dissolver strirrer (type B). The mixture then was deggased in a vacuum chamber to remove entrapped air, which after blended with the appropriate stoichiometric amount of IPDA hardener. The nanomodified resin afterwards poured into release coated silicon mold and cure at room temperature. III. TESTING AND CHARACTERIZATION A. Compression Testing The cured resins with dimension 10x10x14 mm 3 were fabricated for the uniaxial compression test using the Instron test machine. Compression test was conducted on cube specimen according to ASTM D695 with a crosshead speed 1mm/min. SCIENTIFIC COOPERATIONS WORKSHOPS ON ENGINEERING BRANCHES 12-13 September 2015, Istanbul - TURKEY SCIENTIFIC COOPERATIONS WORKSHOPS ON ENGINEERING BRANCHES 227