Mechanical Device Design for Solvent Usage Reduction for Amine Group Substitution and Production of NH2-HNT
Halloysite nanotube (HNT) has a nanotube structure with the chemical formula of Al2Si2O5(OH)4 · nH2O and is a natural sediment of aluminosilicate. A lot of research has been conducted to improve the mechanical properties of epoxy composites by generating interactions between HNTs and polymers through surface treatment of HNTs, such as exchange of amine group as a terminal functional group. However, most of the surface modification methods are performed under wet conditions, which require a relatively large amount of time, manpower and solvent. In order to save time and simplify complicated procedures, a dry coating machine was designed and used for amine group exchange. Comparing the XPS results, it was found that the results of NH2-HNT prepared using a dry coating machine and the substitution through the wet method were not significantly different, and it has been confirmed that the amount of solvent used and the time savings can be made.