Toughening structural adhesives via nano- and micro-phase inclusions

It has been clearly demonstrated that the addition of low concentrations of nanosilica particles to a typical rubber-toughened adhesive, based upon a two-part epoxy formulation, leads to very significant increases in the toughness of the adhesive and also to increases in the glass transition temperature and the single-lap shear strength. The nano-SiO2 particles have an average particle diameter of 20 nm and are very well dispersed in the epoxy adhesive, and only a concentration of about 1% to 8% by mass of such nanoparticles are needed to achieve significant improvements in the mechanical and thermal performance of the rubber-toughened two-part epoxy adhesive.