1. The effect of silica morphology on properties of PVA/silica nano-composites.
- Author
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Bi, Lei, Wang, Jin-wen, Chen, Feng, and Fu, Qiang
- Subjects
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POLYVINYL alcohol , *SILICA , *NANOCOMPOSITE materials , *ETHYL silicate , *ULTRAVIOLET-visible spectroscopy , *SCANNING electron microscopy - Abstract
Two kinds of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)-silica composites were prepared with different methods. One composite was prepared by directly mixing PVA with 80 nm silica nano-particles which were made from tetraethoxysilane (TEOS). The another was obtained by the mixing PVA and hydrolyzed TEOS in the presence of acid-catalyst. The properties of the two PVA/silica hybrids were characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-Visible spectroscopy, solubility tests, limiting oxygen index (LOI) test, tensile test and dynamical mechanical analysis (DMA), respectively. The results indicate that PVA-TEOS composites (PT for short) display more transparency than PVA-silica nano-particles hybrids (PS for short). At the same time, The PT composites presented more excellent performance than PS in water resistance, fire resistance and mechanical properties. Moreover, the T of PT increased with increasing TEOS content, while that of PS decreased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2013
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