The effects of mixing conditions including mixing temperatures and mixing time on the intercalation and exfoliation behaviors of epoxy/n-hexadecyllammonium-montmorillonite clay mixtures and their nanocomposites after curing with curing agent (MeTHPA) and catalyst (DMBA) have been investigated by XRD and TEM.The physical-mechanical properties of the nanocomposites have been measured by tensile testing machine

charpy impact test and heat distortion test instruments.The X-ray diffraction patterns revealed that organoclay was easily intercalated by the epoxy resin during mixing process.Either an intercalation or an exfoliation nanocomposite might be obtained after the mixtures were cured by the curing agent system.There is a mixing temperature-time-intercalation exfoliation transition diagram(3-T diagram).Only under certain mixing conditions

the exfoliation nanocomposite materials could be formed.The mechanical properties of exfoliation nanocomposite materials were better than those of the intercalation ones.