**6.2 Processing of polymer nanocomposites**

However, for processing the nanoparticles with an epoxy/unsaturated polyester/ vinyl ester oligomer is not easy because of high agglomeration of the nano particles, causing inhomogeneity. In fact, carbon nanotubes cannot be homogeneously mixed with epoxy oligomer beyond 1% without adding any solvent.

Common processing methods are:


**Figure 9** shows a general process flow of polymer-nanocomposite preparation, using ultrasonication. As an example, an epoxy resin with clay is shown here with appropriate processing parameters.

For FRP nanocomposites, it is better to use a pre-bound process rather than mixing the nano material in the resin—which may cause processing difficulties. In this process, the nanoparticle is dispersed in a solvent and sprayed onto the dry fiber mat laid on a steel mesh fitted with a vessel. A vacuum at the bottom of the vessel extracts the gaseous and fluid part and facilitates drying of the mat. Typical parameters for such process for thermoset-MWCNT-based FRP are:


**Figure 10** shows a schematic diagram for the pre-bound process of FRP-nanocomposites.
