Effect of Nano/micro Silica on Electrical Property of Unsaturated Polyester Resin Composites

The addition of nano/micro silica into unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) results in the improvement of the electricalproperties of Silica-UPR composites. The surface, volume resistivity, dielectric strength, dissipation factor and dry arcresistivity of nano silica-UPR composites were found to improve significantly. The effects of the nano and micro fillersin UPR have been evaluated. They are presented in this paper. To evaluate the electrical properties of the nano μ composites, all the measurements were done as per the prescribed methods in ASTM. It was observed that theaddition of nano silica improves the electrical properties as compared to micro silica. The better dispersion of silicaparticles in unsaturated polyester resin enhances the electrical properties of silica-UPR composites.