Insights into the synergistic mechanism of reactive aliphatic soft chains and nano-silica on toughening epoxy resins with improved mechanical properties and low viscosity |
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| Authors: | Hongfeng Chen Qingsong Lian Weijie Xu Xuqi Hou Yan Li Zhi Wang Dong An Yaqing Liu |
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| Affiliation: | 1. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Key Laboratory of Functional Nanocomposites of Shanxi Province, North University of China, Taiyuan, China;2. The Key Laboratory of Beijing City on Preparation and Processing of Novel Polymer Materials, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China;3. Department of Materials Application Research, AVIC Manufacturing Technology Institute, Beijing, China |
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| Abstract: | Toughening epoxy resin (EP) without sacrificing strength, modulus, and processing performance is always a harsh task. Here, a series of epoxy systems containing soft butyl glycidyl ether (BGE) and rigid nano-silica (nano-SiO2) were prepared. Micro-phase separation structures derived from the self-assembly effect of BGE can be observed in atomic force microscopy images by controlling the total amount of BGE and nano-SiO2 at 2 wt% for the EPC:Si-m:n (m + n = 4) systems. Due to the synergistic effect of self-assembly effect of BGE and the rigid effect of well dispersed nano-SiO2, EPC:Si-2:2 system exhibited improvement of tensile strength of 59.3% (92.63 MPa), tensile modulus of 24.8% (3.52 GPa), elongation at break of 78.6% (4.84%), and glass transition temperature of 2.4% (138.4°C) compared with Pure EP system. Besides, due to the low loading of nano-SiO2 (≤2 wt%) and the dilution effect of BGE, the viscosity of all the toughening systems is lower than 600 mPa·s, which can provide this toughening system with superior processing performance for large production of composites by automotive manufacturing methods such as vacuum assistant resin infusion technology. |
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| Keywords: | glass transition mechanical properties resins structure-property relationships viscosity and viscoelasticity |
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