Epoxy resin (EP) is a thermosetting resin with excellent properties, but its application is limited due to its high brittleness and poor flame retardancy. Therefore, to solve this problem, a dispersion system of imidazole-containing ionic liquid ([Dmim]Es) and graphene in epoxy resin is designed based on the π–π stacking effect between imidazole and graphite layers. The study on the thermal and flame-retardant properties of the composites show that the modified [Dmim]Es–graphene nanosheets improved the flame retardancy, smoke suppression and thermal stability of epoxy resin. With the addition of 5wt% [Dmim]Es and 1% Gra, the exothermic rate (HRR) and total exothermic (THR) of the composites decrease by 35% and 30.2% compared with the untreated epoxy cross-linking, respectively. The limiting oxygen index reaches 33.4%, the UL-94 test rating reaches V-0. The characterization of mechanical properties shows that the tensile properties and impact properties increased by 13% and 30%, respectively. Through SEM observation, the addition of [Dmim]Es improves the dispersion of graphene in the EP collective and changes the mechanical fracture behavior. The results show that ionic liquid [Dmim]Es-modified graphene nanosheets are well dispersed in the matrix, which not only improves the mechanical properties of epoxy resin (EP), but also has a synergistic effect on flame retardancy. This work provides novel flame-retardant and graphene dispersion methods that broaden the range of applications of epoxy resins.

The relative viscosity was measured at different filler loadings for a cycloaliphatic epoxy resin and hexahydro-4-methylphthalic anhydride hardener system filled with micro/nano hybrid silica. Various empirical models were fitted to the experimental data and a fitting parameter such as critical filler fractions (φmax) was estimated. Among the models, the Zhang-Evans model gave the best fit to the viscosity data. For all the silica loadings used, ln (relative viscosity) varied linearly with filler loadings. Using the Zhang-Evans model and the linearity characteristics of the viscosity change, simple methods to predict the relative viscosity below φmax are presented in this work. The predicted viscosity values from the two methods at hybrid silica fractions of φ = 0.086 and 0.1506 were confirmed for a micro:nano = 1:1 hybrid filler. As a result, the difference between measured and predicted values was less than 11%, indicating that the proposed predicting methods are in good agreement with the experiment.

In this study, solid-liquid separation conditions for coagulation and sedimentation experiments using inorganic coagulant (aluminum sulfate and Poly-Aluminum Chloride (PAC)) were optimized with brine wastewater discharged by the epoxy-resin process. When the turbidity and suspended solid (SS) concentration in raw wastewater were 74 NTU and 4.1 mg/L, respectively, their values decreased the lowest in a coagulant dosage of 135.0 - 270.0 mg Al3+/L. The epoxy resin was re-dispersed in the upper part of wastewater treated above 405.0 mg Al3+/L. The removal efficiencies of turbidity and SS via dosing with aluminum sulfate and PAC were evaluated at initial turbidity and SS of 74 - 630 NTU and 4.1 - 38.5 mg/L, respectively. They increased most in the range from 135.0 - 270.0 mg Al3+/L. The solid-liquid separation condition was quantitatively compared to the correlation of SS removal efficiency between the coagulant dosage and SS concentration based on the concentration of aluminum ions. The empirical formula,   , shows the relationship between SS removal efficiency (R) and coagulant dosage (D) at 38.5 mg/L; it produced high correlation coefficients (r2) of 0.9871 for aluminum sulfate and 0.9751 for PAC.