Investigation of the effects of silica aerogel particles on thermal and mechanical properties of epoxy composites

Aerogel particle filled epoxy was fabricated in this work by investigating the effect of resin viscosity on pore infiltration and density of resulting composites. Aerogel porous structure was successfully preserved by carefully selecting epoxy viscosity for mixing procedure. The effect of aerogel content and particle size was subsequently investigated on thermal conductivity and compressive properties of epoxy composites. The results showed that incorporating aerogel particles into the resin could lead to over 40% reduction in both density and thermal conductivity. However, there was a linear trade-off between compressive properties and thermal conductivity of silica aerogel/epoxy composites. A wide range of aerogel particle sizes was also studied and it was found that the size effect was dependent on the aerogel content. Overall, the results of the presented work allow conclusions to be drawn regarding the usefulness of delayed wet mixing technique and the impact of particle size and loading on aerogel filled resin composites.