The mechanical and tribological behaviors of phenolic polymers modified with silica nanoparticles

The present paper considers the mechanical and wears properties of three different phenolic polymer Nano composites containing 0, 1 and 2 wt. % of well-dispersed silica nanoparticles. Firstly, it was found that for any given phenolic polymer, the Young’s modulus steadily increased as the weight percent of silica nanoparticles was risen. For phenolic polymer with 1 and 2 wt. % Nano silica, Young’s modulus was increased 7% and 12.5%, respectively in comparison with the neat phenolic resin. Second, the presence of 2 wt. % silica nanoparticles increased the hardness of the phenolic polymer by 27.3% compared with the pure phenolic resin. Third, the Nano indentation tests showed that the depth penetrations of pure phenolic resin were decreased steadily by increasing the silica nanoparticle from 0 to 2% wt. The results of scratch tests showed that Nano silica has no effect on the coefficient of friction and wear rate.