THERMAL CHARACTERIZATION OF NANOSILICA REINFORCED EPOXY COMPOSITES

摘要

This research focused on the development of a reproducible processing method for nanosilicarnreinforced resin composites, characterization of its mechanical, and to obtain the material’srnthermal properties. The nanosilica used was Nanopox F400, and the resin system was SC-79 2-rnpart epoxy. Samples were prepared for testing in 0 – 25 %wt. nanosilica contents by mechanicalrnmixing. The processed samples were tested for T_g, coefficient of thermal expansion,rndecomposition temperature, mass loss rates, and residue material after thermogravimetric testing.rnAt the conclusion of this research, the stoichiometric mixtures were confirmed by the residuernremaining after thermogravimetric analysis. The residue results were important to optimizingrnfuture mixtures and, more importantly, correlating the nanosilica content with the thermal andrnmechanical properties results of other tests. Improvements were made in all testing conductedrnand were comparable to expectations, and the claims of the supplier of the nanosilica. The glassrntransition temperature increased and expansion coefficient decreased as expected with increasingrnamounts of nanoparticles. The decomposition temperature, and decomposition rate also increasedrnwith additional nanoparticles. The later improvements were very important to determiningrnpreliminarily the fire resistance of the cured resin material at the various levels of nanosilicarncontent.