Toughening Mechanism and the Application of Epoxy Adhesive Modified by Nano-SiO2

Epoxy resin adhesives are widely used in various sectors, particularly in the aerospace and automotive industries. However, the solidification of the three-dimensional network structure of pure epoxy resin, which causes greater density and brittleness, results in poor system resilience. With the ultimate goal of improving the resilience of epoxy resin, nano-sized SiO2 particles were introduced to improve the adhesion strength of both modified and unmodified epoxy adhesive. The results indicated increases of shearing strength from 16.66-Mpa to 18.01 -Mpa, impact strength from 15.4-kJ/m2 to 33.68-kJ/m2, and flexural strength from 70.5-Mpa to 80.94 Mpa.