Silica Aerogel-Epoxy Nanocomposites: Chemistry and interface

What is it about?

Here, epoxy nanocomposites with both hydrophobic and hydrophilic silica aerogel powder fillers are presented. The use of a high porosity, mesoporous filler such as silica aerogel avoids the typical problems encountered in dispersing nanoparticles. For both types of aerogel surface chemistry, the addition of minor amounts of silica aerogel leads to a strong increase of application relevant properties, e.g. fracture toughness and energy, impact strength, Tg, and storage modulus. The strong covalent silica-epoxy interactions seen for the hydrophilic filler, but absent for the hydrophobic filler, are reflected in the bulk properties. The complete chemical, microstructural and mechanical characterization, from the molecular scale (NMR and FTIR) to the nanoscale (AFM-IR, Lorenz Contact Resonance, nano-thermal analysis) and microscale (SEM), offers unique insights into the toughening mechanism of mesoporous fillers.

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Why is it important?

Based on their greatly improved properties and their ease of preparation, silica aerogel filled epoxy composites hold great promise for future applications. The use of a high porosity, mesoporous filler such as silica aerogel avoids the problems encountered in dispersing conventional nanoparticle fillers.

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