Nano-scratch test for POSS films based on vinyltrimethoxysilane and modified with titanium tetrabutoxide

Polyhedral oligomeric Silsesquioxanes (POSS) derived from vinyltrimethoxysilane (VMS) and modified with titanium tetrabutoxide (TTBO) (PVT) were prepared by sol-gel process catalyzed by hydrochloric acid (molar ratio: [HCl]/Si=0.05), and heating at 45 ℃ during 3 days. The PVT films (f-PVT) with different TTBO content, 5, 20 and 25wt% TTBO, were prepared by adding the stoichiometric amount of benzoyl peroxide (BPO) to PVT solutions in ethanol, dip-coating over glass substrates, and curing using an appropriate thermal cycle and time. The hardness and elastic modulus of f-PVT were tested by continuous stiffness measurement (CSM) of nanoindentation, and the tribological behaviors were comparatively investigated with a nanoscratch test. The influence of the different TTBO contents on the mechanical properties of f-PVT was discussed. The scratch and friction coefficient profiles of f-PVT were illustrated. As the results of the test, f-PVT with 20% TTBO showed the better scratch resistance and tribological behavior.

Nano-indentation profiles of intrinsic hardness and modulus of films based on silsesquioxane modified with titanium tetrabutoxide

This study is to analyze the influence of the modifier, 5～25 wt % titanium tetrabutoxide (TBO), on the hardness and elastic modulus of the films based on SSO deriving from hydrolytic condensation of (3-glycidoxypropyl)trimethoxysilane (GPMS) and vinyltrimethoxysilane (VMS), by the continuous stiffness measurement (CSM) technique of an instrumented-indentation testing (IIT) device. Films were synthesized by adding the stoichiometric amount of ethylenediamine (EDA) and benzoyl proxide (BPO) to SSO solutions in ethanol, dip-coating over glass substrates, and curing using an appropriate thermal cycle. Intrinsic values of hardness and elastic modulus were determined with the average values in “plateau region” from “four-layer” explanation. And the brittle index of the modified coating systems was analyzed.

Synthesis and characterization of superhydrophobic magnesium oxysulfate whiskers

Superhydrophobic materials have attracted much attention for their special wettability.In this study.magnesium oxysulfate(MOS)whiskers were surface modified by vinyltrimethoxysilane(VTMS)and prepared as superhydrophobic materials,which are expected to be widely used in self-cleaning,corro-sion prevention,and oil-water separation.The factors of silane concentration,hydrolysis time,reaction temperature,and reaction time were investigated.The superhydrophobic Mos whiskers were synthe-sized.SEM and XRD turned out that there were no apparent changes in the morphology and crystalli-zation behavior of whiskers before and after modification,while the surface was uniformly coated with a layer of non-crystal material,and the surface of the whiskers employed a chemical bond Si-O-Mg covalently connected.The thermogravimetric analysis ultimately demonstrated that surface modification was beneficial to the improvement of the thermal stability of MoS whiskers.Superhydrophobic MoS whiskers showed good compatibility with organic solvents through oil-water separation experiments,and demonstrated excellent self-cleaning performance.The methodology for the surface treatment of Mos whiskers to prepare superhydrophobic whiskers in this work may be extended for other whiskers or fillers,which may be promising for the preparation of superhydrophobic materials.

Three-dimensional configurations of organic/inorganic hybrid nanostructural blocks (I).A quantum mechanical investigation for ladder-like structure of vinylsilsesquioxane

The organic/inorganic hybrid nanostructural vinylsilsesquioxanes (VSSO) were prepared from the hydrolytic condensation of vinyltrimethoxysilane (VMS). The proposed formu- las of VSSO were assigned with standard spectroscopic techniques, FTIR, NMR (1H, C and 13 29Si) and MALDI-TOF MS, and a generic formula of the SSO, Tn(OH)x(OR’)y(x, y = 0, 1, 2…; n = 1, 2…; T = RSiO1.5 ?(x+y)/2n). Geometric parameters (Si-O and Si-C bond lengths, Si-O-Si and O-Si-O bond angles) and total energies of the multi-structures of VSSO were calculated by a quantum mechanical investigation and molecular symmetries. According to the results of the calculation, most molecules had stabler ladder structures than the cage isomers, therefore, the most probably reasonable and optimum structure of the VSSO system was the ladder type.