Epoxy resin nanocomposite synthesis

Polymer nanocomposites are a new class of materials that haveproperties offering sifnificant commercial potential. They are generallydefined as the combination of a polymer matrix resin (epoxy resin,unsaturated polyester etc.) and inorganic particles (zeolits, clay, silica)in the nanometer size range. These nanocomposites exhibit markedlyimproved mechanical, thermal, optical and physico-chemical propertieswhen compared with the pure polymer.In this study; as matrix system epoxy resin and as a reinforcementsystem nanometer sized silica and as a modifier polyether polyol havebeen used. During the study, bisphenole-A structured resin has beenamalgamated with silica weighting 1, 3, 5, 7 % of the total matrix.Additionally, by adding polyether polyol, at a rate 1, 3, 5 % of theweight, to each one of these mixtures, nanocomposite materials havebeen prepared.The mechanical and thermal characteristics of the prepared materialhave been analyse and the fracture surface morphology of the materialshas been examined by using SEM.Flexural strenght and strain decreases with the increasing silica ratioand Flexural modulus value increases as the silica ratio decreases.Tensile strenght and strain experience a decreases with the increasingsilica proportion and consequently, modulus value decreases. With theincreasing polyether polyol proportion, Flexural and Tensile strain alsoincrease. In differential scanning calorimeter thermograms (DSC), it hasbeen seen that when the silica proportion increases, the glasstransition temperature (Tg) increases and the increase examined inglass transition temperature (Tg) with the increase in the polyetherpolyol ratio is relatively higher than the increase in heat of materialcontaining only silica. Degradation temperatures have increased withthe increase of the silica proportion. The results obtained from TGAthermograms prove right the DSC results. In SEM micrographs, it hasbeen observed that as the silica proportion increases, larger silicaagglomerates are formed and the material has three phases (epoxy,silica, polyol)