Surface free energy and dielectric properties of vinyltriethoxysilane functionalized SBA‐15‐reinforced unsaturated polyester nanocomposites

In this work, organic–inorganic hybrid nanocomposites based on vinylsilane‐functionalized SBA‐15 reinforced unsaturated polyester resin were developed and characterized. SBA‐15 was synthesized and functionalized with vinyltriethoxysilane. The surface functionalized SBA‐15 (VSBA‐15) with varying weight percentages (1, 3, 5, and 7 wt%) was incorporated into the unsaturated polyester resin. The resulting VSBA‐15‐reinforced epoxy composites were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, and thermogravemetric analysis and impedance analyzer. Among the composite samples with varying loadings, the dielectric behavior of 7 wt% VSBA‐15 loaded composite sample possesses the lowest value of dielectric constant, that is, 2.4 at 1 MHz frequency when compared with that of other samples. Further, the thermal stability was also enhanced to an appreciable extent, when compared with that of the samples with lower V‐SBA‐15 loadings. POLYM. COMPOS., 37:3433–3441, 2016. © 2015 The Authors Polymer Composites published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society of Plastics Engineers