Improvement of Epoxy Resin with Glycidyl-Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxanes

In this paper, a molecular level hybrid material consists of glycidyl-polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (G-POSS) and bisphenol-A epoxy resin (EP) with chemical bonds connection was prepared. The curing reaction and surface characteristics of the hybrid materials were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and scanning electron microscope (SEM), respectively. With the increase in the loading of G-POSS, the Activation Energy (Ea) shows significant decrease and the mechanical properties of the EP were greatly improved. The EDS results revealed a uniform dispersion of the G-POSS in the hybrid materials. The G-POSS/EP composites exhibited excellent dielectric properties and thermal properties due to the voids volume in the composites. The results manifested that the introduction of G-POSS to EP exhibited excellent toughening and reinforcing effects on the composites.