Evaluation of UV transmission, self-cleaning and shear strength characteristics of nano and micro-scale metal oxides added epoxy based films

Using polymers instead of ceramics as floor covering materials could improve the integrity, transparency, anti-slip, pattern-ability, higher impact resistance, better wear protection and etc. of the coating. However, less resistance to UV rays, maintenance of surface pollution, low adhesion to concrete and the possibility of layering remained as challenges that must be eliminated. Therefore, the present research tried to add different quantities of fillers (5, 15 and 25 wt%) such as SiO₂ and ZnO in nano and micro scales into the epoxy resin and evaluated the self-cleaning, transparency and adhesion resistance of the obtained composites for the first time. The obtained results indicated that the epoxy-based composite contained nanoparticles had higher transparency and self-cleaning capability, compared with composites contained micro-particles. Moreover, the amorphous silica nanoparticles could reduce the water contact angle of the film to around 46⁰ and not affected the transparency of the polymer, whereas crystalline ZnO and SiO₂ micro-particles deteriorated the transparency and self-cleaning properties of the epoxy and moreover, increased the water contact angle of the obtained films to around 80–90⁰. Therefore, the fabricated transpaert thin film could be a potential candidate for surface covering application.