Epoxy Polyamide Composites Reinforced with Silica Nanorods: Fabrication, Thermal and Morphological Investigations

Efficient improvement of the toughness of epoxy resin has been a bottleneck for growing their appropriateness for advanced application. In this study, thermoplastic polyamide and copolymer composites of thermosetting epoxy resins (DGEBA) were developed via the solution casting method. Polyamide acted as a part of the copolymer as well as a curing agent. Silica nanorods (SiO₂ nanorods) were dispersed into the mixture to achieve blends of epoxy/polyamide reinforced silica nanocomposite with various weight ratio viz. 0 wt%, 1 wt%, 3 wt%, 5 wt%, 7 wt%, 9 wt% and 11 wt%. The as-prepared epoxy/polyamide reinforced SiO₂ nanocomposites were examined by scanning surface micrograph (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques. The obtained results show that the modified epoxy/polyamides have better toughness than that of pristine epoxy/polyamide polymers. FTIR confirmed the interaction among SiO₂ nanorods with epoxy/polyamide. The SEM analysis showed well dispersion of SiO₂ nanorods in the epoxy/polyamide blend coating, which demonstrated that this method could effectively avoid agglomeration of the inorganic nanoparticles. In conclusion, this study provides an effective approach to harvest epoxy/polyamide/SiO₂ nanocomposite from diverse methods and minerals materials.