Surface Grafting of Nano-SiC with Glycidyl Methacrylate in Emulsion and Its Effect on the Tribological Performance of Epoxy Composites

Abstract

To improve the tribological performance of nano-SiC particles filled epoxy composites, surface modification of the fillers is necessary. By means of soapless emulsion polymerization method, graft polymerization of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) onto the surface of alkyl nano-SiC was carried out. The monomer, polyglycidyl methacrylate (PGMA) is chemically attached to the nanoparticles by the double bonds introduced during the pretreatment with a coupling agent. By analyzing the reaction mechanism, the emulsion polymerization loci were found to be situated at the SiC surface. Besides, the factors affecting the grafting yielding of PGMA on the particles were investigated, including monomer concentration, initiator consumption, reaction temperature, reaction time, etc. Accordingly, an optimum grafting reaction condition was determined. It was shown that the grafted nanoparticles exhibit greatly improved dispersibility in good solvent for the grafting polymer. The primary studies about the tribological performance of epoxy composite showed a positive effect of grafted nano-SiC as expected.