In this study, α,ω-diamino polyoxytetramethylene (APOTM) was used as a new polyoxyalkylene hardener of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) epoxy resin. To reinforce the thermo-mechanical behavior of the corresponding epoxy networks, the curing processes were performed in the presence of amine-functionalized silica nanoparticles (AFSNP's). Three different contents of AFSNP's, i.e. 5.0, 7.5 and 10.0 wt%, were employed for covalent embedding into the resultant DGEBA/APOTM epoxy networks. Therefore, three epoxy-silica films labeled by EN/AFSNP′s-5, EN/ AFSNP′s-7.5 and EN/AFSNP′s-10 were fabricated. The AFSNP′s-loaded DGEBA/APOTM epoxies showed superior thermo-stability in comparison with the neat epoxy counterpart. According to the results obtained from DMTA measurements, the storage moduli (E' values) of the epoxies were significantly improved by adding the organically modified silica nanofiller.

Keywords: polyoxytetramethylene, epoxy network, silica nanoparticles, heat stability, storage modulus