Modification of Cyanate Resin by Nanometer Silica

Several nanometer silicas, which were purchased or prepared by sol-gel method at different contents, have been used to modify Bisphenol-A cyanate resin (BADCy) in this article. The curing conditions and processing technology have been established. Meanwhile, the reactivity of this system and the structure of SiO ₂ /BADCy composites are investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Moreover, the reasonable mechanism is also illustrated based on these results. It is found that BADCy can be reinforced and toughened simultaneously by nanometer silica with different size ranging from 15 to 45 nm, which were dispersed in the BADCy macromolecular networks. When the content of nanometer silica was 2-4%, the effect of reinforcement and toughness was on the best levels.