Study of the Properties of Epoxy Nano Composite Reinforced with Different Weight Percentages of Antimony Trioxide

Abstract

In this study the effect of antimony trioxide nano powders (Sb2O3) with weight percentages of (2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 wt%) on some properties of epoxy resin was studied. The nanocomposites are fabricated by hand lay-up method. Some tests are performed such as: hardness, impact strength, thermal conductivity, water absorption, polarization light microscope and thermal stability. It is observed that mechanical, thermal and physical properties of epoxy nanocomposite are modified compared to neat epoxy and found that best weight percentage is (10% Sb2O3). The values of hardness, impact strength, thermal conductivity and thermal stability increase ((75.21-79.02), (7.2823-19.0407 KJ/m2), (0.37957- 0.55438 Wº.C-1.m-1) and (17.75- 44% at 500 ºC)), respectively, while the values of weight gain and diffusion coefficient decrease ((0.3533-0.3091 at 10 weeks) and ((2.482985783-1.577478842) ×10-3 m2/sec)) with the increase of the reinforcement percentage. The hand lay-up method is homogeneous and the surfaces of samples are coherent according to polarization light microscope images.