STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF POLYHEDRAL-OLIGOMERIC-SIL-SESQUIOXANE (POSS) COATED SIC NANOPARTICLES AND THEIR APPLICATIONS IN THERMOSET POLYMERS

Objective of this work was to test the thermal and mechanical properties of POSS coated SiC particles infused in epoxy polymers to produce nanocomposite. A non-contact and sonochemical method was developed to coat POSS on SiC nanoparticles and uniformly disperse in a polymer. These epoxy based polymers were further cured to prepared polymer nanocomposites. Nanocomposites with 1% loading of both SiC and POSS  coated SiC are shown in figure. The flexural strength was increased by 12% and 14.3% over the neat epoxy. The flexural modulus were also increased by 9.5% and 12.5% respectively with no loss in strain to failure. It should be noted here that with reducing the amount of SiC by 50% in coated nanoparticles, still it is possible to increase the mechanical and thermal properties. TEM images of SiC and OI POSS coated SiC nanoparticles