Silane effects on the surface morphology and abrasion resistance of transparent SiO2/UV-curable resin nano-composites

▶ The surface microstructure for the transparent SiO2/UV-curable resin coatings with various MEMO concentrations was investigated. ▶ MEMO/SiO2 weight ratio increased from 0.2 to 0.6, the dispersion, compatibility and cross-linking density between the MEMO-modified SiO2 particles and acrylate resin were improved, leading to an increase in abrasion resistance. ▶ As the 3-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane/SiO2 weight ratio was increased to 1.5, the additional MEMO may exceed that needed to fill the pores with the probability of SiO2 nano-particles existing on the coating surface was lower than that for samples with a MEMO/SiO2 weight ratio of 0.6. This produced a decrease in abrasion resistance.