Comparative Study of Different Source of Silica-Filled Epoxy Resin

The mechanical properties and morphologies of fume precipitate and rice husk silica filled EP composites have been compared. The density, specific area of the silica decreases in the order of fume silica, precipitate silica and rice husk silica, while the silica size increases with the order above. It is shown that the fume silica/EP exhibits the highest flexural strength and modulus, followed by the precipitate silica/EP and the rice husk silica/EP. The rice husk silica/EP exhibits the highest in impact strength as silica is 1 phr. Over 5 phr of silica, fume silica/EP has the highest in impact strength, while the rice silica/EP is better than precipitate silica/EP. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results show that the fume silica has best dispersion and least filler agglomerates in matrix. The better dispersion will be responsible for the higher reinforcing and processing viscosity of the fume silica.