In this work, the flexural and tensile moduli of the neat vinyl ester and the corresponding nanocomposites are investigated. In addition, the influence of the voids content of the nanocomposites on the mechanical modulusis presented. Various amounts of clay were used in this work which include 2, 4, and 5 wt.% clay loading. To characterise interlaminar structure of the nanocomposites, XRD, SEM and TEM were performed. The mechanical modulusof the neat sample was improved by the incorporation of

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... ayered silicate up to 4 wt.%. Further addition of layered silicate resulted in decreasing the modulusproperties. This was due to the presence of high numbers of microvoids in the nanocomposites structure at high clay loading. The increment in microvoids content was proportional to the clay loading. At 2 wt.% clay content, the voids were about 2.45 %. However, at 4 and 5 wt.%, the voids amount represented 6.40% and 9.03 % respectively.