Facile monomer stabilization approach to fabricate iron/vinyl ester resin nanocomposites

Fe/Vinyl ester resin nanocomposites were fabricated by the monomer particle stabilization without any additional surfactant or coupling agent. Vinyl ester monomer serves as a coupling agent with one side covalently bound onto the nanoparticle surface by a displacement reaction and the other end copolymerized with extra vinyl ester resin to form a robust unity. The addition of iron nanoparticles favors the nanocomposite fabrication with a lower initial curing temperature. Vinyl ester resin in the nanocomposites becomes thermally stable as compared to the pure vinyl ester resin. An enhanced mechanical property is observed due to the uniform particle dispersion and the introduced interfacial covalent bondage. The iron nanoparticles become magnetically harder (with a larger coercivity) after dispersion in the vinyl ester resin matrix. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.