Influence of Hyperbranched Poly(2-(2-bromopropionyloxy)ethyl acrylate)-Modified TiO₂ Nanoparticles on the Properties of Epoxy Resin Nanocomposites

Abstract

In this article, titania (TiO₂) nanopartcicles functionalized with hyperbranched poly(2-(2-bromopropionyloxy)ethyl acrylate) (HPBPEA) were prepared via self-condensing vinyl polymerization (SCVP) of 2-(2-bromopropionyloxy)ethyl acrylate (BPEA). The resultant sample was characterized by FT-IR and XPS. The TiO₂/epoxy resin nanocomposites were prepared by mixing modified TiO₂ and epoxy resins. The influence of TiO₂ content on the mechanical and thermal properties of nanocomposites was investigated. The experimental results show that the bending strength and impact strength enhanced with the addition of nano-TiO₂, and the significant improvement of the bending strength (+37.7%) and impact strength (+89.7%) were obtained when the modified TiO₂ content is about 1 wt%. In addition, the thermal stability of the modified TiO₂/epoxy matrix nanocomposites is also distinctly improved. The reasons for these changes are discussed.

Keywords:

• Epoxy
• Hyperbranched poly(2-(2-bromopropionyloxy)ethyl acrylate)
• Nanocomposites
• SCVP
• TiO₂

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are grateful for the financial support by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51103069), Science Foundation of Aeronautics of China (No. 2011ZF56018), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province (No. 20122BAB216014) and the Opening Project of State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering (Sichuan University) (No. KF201306).