{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,11,6]],"date-time":"2026-11-06T18:33:52Z","timestamp":1793990032967,"version":"4.8.0"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"18","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,9]],"date-time":"2021-09-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1631145600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Polymers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Epoxy\/silica thermosets with tunable matrix (vitrimers) were prepared by thermal curing of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) in the presence of a hardener\u20144-methylhexahydrophthalic anhydride (MHHPA), a transesterification catalyst\u2014zinc acetylacetonate (ZAA), and 10\u201315 nm spherical silica nanoparticles. The properties of the resulting material were studied by tensile testing, thermomechanical and dynamic mechanical analysis. It is shown that at room temperature the introduction of 5\u201310 wt% of silica nanoparticles in the vitrimer matrix strengthens the material leading to the increase of the elastic modulus by 44% and the tensile stress by 25%. Simultaneously, nanoparticles enhance the dimensional stability of the material since they reduce the coefficient of thermal expansion. At the same time, the transesterification catalyst provides the thermoset with the welding ability at heating, when the chain exchange reactions are accelerated. For the first time, it was shown that the silica nanoparticles strengthen welding joints in vitrimers, which is extremely important, since it allows to repeatedly use products made of thermosets and heal defects in them. Such materials hold great promise for use in durable protective coatings, adhesives, sealants and many other applications.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/polym13183040","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,9]],"date-time":"2021-09-09T21:36:58Z","timestamp":1631223418000},"page":"3040","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":25,"title":["Unmodified Silica Nanoparticles Enhance Mechanical Properties and Welding Ability of Epoxy Thermosets with Tunable Vitrimer Matrix"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Anna I.","family":"Barabanova","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"A.N. Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Egor S.","family":"Afanas\u2019ev","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"A.N. Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2846-0784","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Vyacheslav S.","family":"Molchanov","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Physics Department, Moscow State University, 119991 Moscow, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andrey A.","family":"Askadskii","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"A.N. Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Russia"},{"name":"Moscow State University of Civil Engineering, 129337 Moscow, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1098-0255","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Olga E.","family":"Philippova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Physics Department, Moscow State University, 119991 Moscow, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"965","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1212648","article-title":"Silica-like malleable materials from permanent organic networks","volume":"334","author":"Montarnal","year":"2011","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"30","DOI":"10.1039\/C5SC02223A","article-title":"Vitrimers: Permanent organic networks with glass-like fluidity","volume":"7","author":"Denissen","year":"2016","journal-title":"Chem. 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