Volume 10,
Issue 3, 2001
A STUDY OF THE
MECHANICAL AND PERMEABILITY PROPERTIED OS NANO- AND MICRON- TiO2 FILLED EPOXY
COMPOSITESComposites
C.B. Ng, B.J.
Ash, L.S. Schadler, and R.W. Siegel
Department of
Materials Science and Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180-3590
(Received 1/01;
accepted 6/01)
ABSTRACT
Polymer
nanocomposites consisting of 32 nm diameter TiO2 nanoparticles and epoxy resin were
ultrasonically processed and the mechanical and permeability properties of the resulting
composites were compared to composites containing 0.24 µm TiO2 particles and to neat
resin. It was found that the nanocomposites with well-dispersed nanoparticles at 10 wt%
loading exhibited a unique combination of properties showing increases in both scratch
resistance and modulus, as well as gains in strain-to-failure and swelling resistance,
while maintaining toughness. The micron filled composites showed no increase in scratch
resistance and a decrease in strain-to-failure relative to the neat resin.
