Synthesis and properties of perfluorinated alkyl silicone oil modified epoxy resin

Perfluorinated alkyl silicone oil (PFASO) was successfully synthesized from N-ethyl-N-hydroxylethyl perfluorinated octane sulfonamide, succinic anhydride and amino silicone oil by esterification and amide reaction at moderate temperature in the presence of different catalysts. The chemical structure of the synthesized samples was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), the relative molecular mass(MM) and molecular mass distribution(MMD) of PFASO were tested by gel filtration chromatography(GFC). A commercial epoxy resin (DGEBA) was modified with PFASO, with the content of PFASO 1–5 phr. Thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), impact tests, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and water contact angle test were applied to provide accurate results on the thermal stability, toughness and hydrophobicity of PFASO/epoxy complex. The experimental results reveal that epoxy resins can be successfully modified by adding a small amount of as-synthesized modifiers via simple direct mixing, and verify that the as-synthesized modifier can improve the toughness and hydrophobicity of epoxy resin without sacrificing its thermal properties.