Simultaneously improved toughness and dielectric properties of epoxy/core-shell particle blends

Epoxy/core-shell particle blends were prepared using a diglycidylether of bisphenol A epoxy and acrylics-type core-shell particles. The impact strength of the blends was tested, and the result showed that the epoxy was greatly toughened with optimum core-shell particle content. Meanwhile, the dielectric properties of both epoxy and its blends were investigated using a broadband dielectric analyzer. It was found that the dielectric constant of the epoxy blends with lower core-shell particle content were less than that of the epoxy in the investigated frequency range, while the dielectric loss was less than that of the neat epoxy over a low frequency range, even for the epoxy blends with the optimum core-shell particle content. The dielectric breakdown strength of the epoxy blends at room and cryogenic temperature were also investigated. To identify the primary relationship of the above properties and structure of the epoxy blends, the micro-structure of the core-shell particle and the morphology of the samples were observed by transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. It was considered that these epoxy/core-shell particle blends with improved toughness and desirable dielectric properties could have a potential application in the insulation of electronic packaging system.