Abstract: Mesostructured silica MSU-J-SS and MSU-J-SS with worm-hole framework are assembled from tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and sodium silicate (SS) as precursors, respectively. The textural property details of these two mesostructured silicas are characterized. The rubbery and glassy epoxy resin mesocomposites are prepared with the 2wt %--10wt % mesostructured silicas, MSU-J-SS and MSU-J-TEOS, as the filler and their tensile properties, microstructure and morphology are investigated. The results demonstrate that the textural property details of mesostructured silicas are greatly affected by the silica resource and synthesizing conditions. The mesostructrue silica MSU-J-SS exhibits more uniform structure, larger average pore size, smaller surface area, pore volume and wall thickness in comparison to the mesostructured silica MSU-J-TEOS. The mesocomposites containing mesostructured silica exhibit improved tensile properties in comparison to the pristine polymer. Moreover, the improved tensile strength and tensile modulus without compromising the strain-at-break provided by MSU-J-SS with larger pore size in comparison to MSU-J-TEOS are attributed to better dispersion in epoxy resin and more efficient polymer impregnation of the particle mesopores.

Key words: Mesostructured Silica, Textural Properties, Epoxy Resin, Mesocomposites, mechanical properties