Preparation and physical properties of hollow glass microspheres-reinforced epoxy matrix resins

The surface free energies, thermal stabilities, electrical properties, and fracture behaviors of particulate composites were investigated using hollow glass microspheres lowly filled diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) as a model system. Diaminodiphenyl methane (DDM) was used as a curing agent, and the weight content of filler range varied from 0 to 2 wt.%. The hollow glass microspheres-filled composites showed lower coefficient of thermal expansion than that of neat epoxy resins. The dielectric constant of the composites was decreased with increasing the frequency and filler content. And the glass transition temperature and mechanical interfacial properties of the composites studied were significantly higher than those of neat epoxy matrix. This could be attributed to the introduction of hollow glass microspheres into the epoxy resins, resulting in improving the interfacial interaction between the filler and the epoxy matrix in the composites.