Effects of surface modification agents on the properties of MCM-41/EP nanocomposites

Mesoporous molecular sieve is one of the largest inorganic material systems widely applied for their huge superficial area and ordered mesoporous. Previous studies on the mesoporous molecular sieve MCM41/epoxy nanocomposite have shown that mesoporous addition evidently enhances mechanical properties. Literatures show that the interaction between the inner and outer surfaces of nanoporous and matrix is significant. In this paper, the surface modification agents KH550 and KH792 which grafted the channel wall and outer surfaces of MCM-41 were applied separately, and the in situ polymerization was used to prepare MCM-41/EP nanocomposite. Then, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) was performed and power frequency dielectric property was examined to investigate the storage modulus (M´), glass transition temperatures (T_g) and breakdown filed strength of the composites. DMA results show that the M´ and T_g values of KH550-modified composites were all higher than that of pure EP, whereas the M´ and T_g of KH792 modified composite was almost similar to that of pure EP. The electric breakdown experimental results show that the field strength of composite was higher than that of pure epoxy. Finally, a new nanocomposite system was formed for KH550-modified composite.