Influence of various nanofillers on mechanical and electrical properties of epoxy resin composites

ABSTRACT

Epoxy-based composites are widely used in the aircraft, automobile, and microelectronic industries. The incorporation of various nanofillers into epoxy resins can yield high-performance composites having high strength, lightweight, and multifunctional properties. So, this work focuses on the preparation of various inorganic nanoparticles including the waste glass powder received from the broken windowpane filled in an epoxy resin matrix to create high-performance composites. The physical, chemical, mechanical, and electrical properties were investigated for all samples. The results show that the neat epoxy resin shows the lowest HV value and loses the most weight in the abrasion test. Whereas ZnO/epoxy resin composite shows the highest H_V, the Al₂O₃/epoxy resin composite loses less weight in the abrasion test. For electrical results, the resistivity of epoxy resin composites filled with 2 wt% of Al₂O₃ shows the highest value which is about 45% increase from the pure epoxy resin. Finally, it can be concluded that all inorganic fillers which are SiO₂, Al₂O₃, TiO₂, and ZnO including waste glass powder can really improve the hardness, abrasion resistance, and electrical resistivity of the epoxy resin.

KEYWORDS:

• Nanofillers
• epoxy resin
• composites
• mechanical property
• electrical property

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This project is funded by National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT).

Notes on contributors

D. Kitichatpayak

Danudech Kitichatpayak is an undergraduate student at the College of Materials Innovation and Technology, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok Thailand