Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Epoxy Composites Using Silica Powder

Abstract: Epoxy composites with concentrations of 5-70 wt% of silica particles were prepared in order to im-prove mechanical property and poor thermal stability. The mechanical and thermal properties were investigated and compared to the corresponding properties of neat epoxy composite. Furthermore, the effects of silane com-pound treatment on silica particles were observed by the experimental results of the tensile strength, glass tran-sition temperature, and thermal stability of epoxy composite. Tensile strength of epoxy composites was meas-ured by universal testing machine (UTM) and after that, the structure and morphology analysis of epoxy nano-composites were analyzed by field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The increased solid content of CA0030 particle improved the tensile strength of ep-oxy/modified composites to give 30-50 MPa. The thermal expansion coefficients (CTE) of neat epoxy resin and epoxy/silica composites measured with a thermomechanical analyzer (TMA) showed that the incorporation of silica particles was helpful to reduce the CTE of neat epoxy resin.