Extraction and characterization of nano-silica particles to enhance mechanical properties of general-purpose unsaturated polyester resin

Abstract

Unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) is the most versatile liquid polymer with a wide range of applications in every aspect of the industry but it has low impact strength, low elongation at break, and low toughness. Its mechanical properties can be enhanced with the addition of an optimum percentage of nano-silica fillers by using ASTM polymer test standards, which have been followed by various research groups. For this research, enhanced mechanical properties of the resin have been tested for 0.5, 1, 2, 3, and 4% amount by weight fraction of the nano-silica as fiber nanomaterial. The sugar cane bagasse ash was collected from the Wenji Sugar Factory and extracted with the required size of the particle, which is 10 nm. The ability of extraction is used to manipulate the particle size as the researcher needs. The aim is to determine the enhanced mechanical properties of the UPR by the addition of optimum nano-silica particles. Nanoparticles have the effect of filling porous regions, crack path deflection, and crack bridging capability of the material, which provides good adhesion with the matrix to increase the mechanical properties of composite materials. Experimental result dictates that 0.5% nano-silica addition with 10 nm particle size performs best by enhancing the mechanical properties of composite material up to 30.45% for tensile, 33% for compression, 17.8% for flexural, a slightly 10% improvement for impact test and it shows an overall 27% better performance than the pure UPR. Thermal stability and glass transition temperature were not influenced by the addition of nano-silica.