Sol-gel processing of inorganic-organic transparent nanocomposite hard coating

Abstract

Inorganic-organic nanocomposite hard coatings were prepared on the PMMA surface using spinning technique with attempts of incorporating homogeneously nanosized AlOOH particles into the organic-inorganic hybrid matrices. The hybrid matrices were derived from 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane and tetraethoxysilane. The AlOOH particles with different shapes (plate and needle-like) were prepared from aluminum isopropoxide and introduced into the hybrid sols directly. The coatings obtained are dense, transparent and their scratch-resistance is greatly improved, especially the contribution of needle-like particle is remarkable in comparison with the hybrid coatings without particle addition.