Title: Manufacture of epoxy-silica nanoparticle composites and characterisation of their dielectric behaviour

Authors: Lihong Cheng, Liaoying Zheng, Guorong Li, Zheng Yao, Qingrui Yin, Kyle Jiang

Addresses: State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Structure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China. ' State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Structure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China. ' State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Structure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China. ' State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Structure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China. ' State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Structure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China. ' School of Engineering, Centre for Micro Engineering and NanoTechnology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK

Abstract: Nanoparticles as fillers for epoxy composites sometimes result in unexpected dielectric properties. This paper presents a study on the dielectric properties of E-51 epoxy resin incorporated with surface modified 20 and 100 nm silica particles, respectively. The nanoparticles and composites were examined under infrared spectroscopy and it was found that the surface modification of the nanoparticles lead to a good hydrophobic property and made particles easier to form bonds with the resin. Extensive experiments were performed on the dielectric properties of the composites and the results and analysed. It was found that by adding low dielectric constant nanosilica particles, the dielectric constants of the composite were notably increased as opposed to a drop as one might expect, while the dielectric losses were lowered. The increase in dielectric constant phenomenon is explained in terms of long chemical chains created in forming the composites. It was also found that the high dielectric constant phenomenon is relevant to higher surface area of the nanofillers.

Keywords: polymer matrix composites; PMCs; nanosilica; dielectric properties; infrared spectroscopy; IR spectroscopy; nanoparticles; nanometrics; epoxy-silica nanocomposites; dielectric constant; nanofillers; nanotechnology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNP.2008.017615

International Journal of Nanoparticles, 2008 Vol.1 No.1, pp.3 - 13

Published online: 21 Mar 2008 *

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