Two different aspects of the preparation of epoxy based PLS nanocomposites, namely the solvent mixing method and pre-conditioning of the resin/clay mixture, have been investigated and compared with the simple mixing method. It is shown that both solvent mixing and pre-conditioning result in significantly different reaction kinetics when the diamine curing agent is added, even though the final epoxy cross-linked network structure is rather unaffected. The principal difference lies in a reduction in the amount of etherification, catalysed by the onium ion of the organically modified clay, which takes place during the curing reaction. For the solvent method, in particular, an improved degree of exfoliation is observed.

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