Effect of Nano SiO2on Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Polymer Matrix Nanocomposites

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ABSTRACT

In this paper, the mechanical and thermal properties of epoxy/nano-SiO₂ polymer composites have been investigated. The ultrasonic vibration-assisted hand layup process was used for the preparation of composites with different weight percent (1%, 2%, 3%, and 4%) of nano-SiO₂ particles. The density of polymer composite has been calculated by both theoretical and experimental methods. The mechanical properties were measured by the tensile tests, hardness tests, impact tests, and flexural tests. For the evaluation of morphological analysis, field emission scanning electron microscopy, XRD, and FT-IR tests were performed. A heat deflection temperature test was also performed for testing the thermal characteristic of the polymer composites. The results indicate the improvement of mechanical, thermal, and morphological properties with increasing wt.% of nano-silica particles in polymer composites. The results of field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-RD, and FT-IR tests also show the enhancement of morphological and physical properties of the polymer matrix composites with the addition of nanoparticles. Heat deflection temperature tests have shown the improvement in heat resistance capacity of composites with high wt.% of nano-silica particles. The experimental results have shown improvement in tensile strength, hardness, and impact strength by 48%, 18%, and 64%, respectively. The heat deflection temperature improved up to 25%.

KEYWORDS:

• Polymer matrix composites
• nano-SiO₂ particles
• FE-SEM
• impact strength
• tensile strength

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).