Effect of Surface Modification on Corrosion Resistance, Mechanical and Electrical Properties of Epoxy Resin-Based Nanocomposites

Abstract

The epoxy resin-based nanocomposites have been used to overcome the drawback of epoxy resin such as brittle, low impact resistance, poor stress cracking and poor corrosion resistance in the aggressive environment by incorporating inorganic nanoparticles into the high cross-linked structure of epoxy resin. However, the main problem of these composites is the agglomeration of nanoparticles which influences the worst dispersion in the epoxy matrix and leads to poor properties of the composite. Therefore, this work aims to study the effect of nanoparticle additions, i.e. ZrO2 nanoparticle and SiO2 nanoparticle including waste glass powder (WGP) which is an alternative inorganic filler, on properties of the epoxy resin-based nanocomposite. The particle surface of each filler was also modified with 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GTPMS) in order to achieve better dispersion in the disk-shaped bulk composites. The chemical property of modified fillers was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The physical properties, mechanical properties, water absorption and corrosion resistance of all composites are then investigated. The results revealed that the incorporations of ZrO2, SiO2, and WGP with GPTMS surface modification into epoxy resin-based nanocomposite exhibit better performance in mechanical properties, water absorption and corrosion resistance than the unmodified surface of ZrO2, SiO2, and WGP additions. Although, both modified- and unmodified surfaces of fillers for the epoxy resin-based nanocomposites show improvement in all properties compared to the neat epoxy resin but the electrical properties of epoxy resin-based nanocomposites with unmodified fillers and GPTMS-modified fillers do not show a significant effect on any electrical properties.