With the continuous progress of the paint industry, the requirements for paint raw materials are becoming increasingly strict. Especially in the field of high-performance coatings, the core component of its formula - the base material, needs to meet more comprehensive performance requirements. How to provide a base material that can meet these comprehensive needs has become an important challenge facing the industry.

01. Exploration of Modification of Epoxy Resin
Epoxy resin, a widely used thermosetting resin in the modern coating industry, is renowned for its excellent corrosion resistance, chemical resistance, as well as good moisture and solvent resistance. However, it also has some shortcomings, such as high internal stress after curing, brittleness, and lack of fatigue resistance, heat resistance, and impact resistance. These shortcomings greatly limit the application of epoxy resin in the field of high-tech coatings.
To overcome these drawbacks, researchers have attempted to improve the performance of epoxy resins through modification. Among them, organosilicon resin, commonly referred to as organosiloxane, has attracted attention for its high temperature stability, low temperature flexibility, excellent weather resistance, and outstanding insulation performance. In addition, its low surface tension and good waterproof performance also provide possibilities for modification.
However, the compatibility between organosiloxane and epoxy resin is a challenge. In order to achieve effective modification, researchers have explored various approaches, including reactive end group reactions, generation of block copolymers using siloxane coupling agents, substitution of siloxane side groups, and pre preparation of siloxane particles. These pathways can be further divided into two methods based on the reaction mechanism: physical blending and graft copolymerization modification.
Physical blending modification is achieved through mechanical blending, but often due to the weak interaction force between organic silicon and epoxy resin, compatibilizers or coupling agents are needed to improve compatibility. And copolymerization modification utilizes the active end groups on organosilicon to react with corresponding functional groups in epoxy resin, generating graft or block copolymers to solve compatibility problems and introduce stable Si-O bonds to enhance fracture toughness. Through this method, the excellent properties of organosilicon can be effectively introduced into epoxy resin, thereby enhancing its overall performance.

02. Application in the field of coatings
In the field of coatings, the modification of epoxy resin is widely used. For example, high-temperature and corrosion-resistant coatings can solve the problems of ash accumulation and low-temperature corrosion of flue gas in air preheaters, while reducing the equipment and material costs of heat exchangers. In addition, coatings made of high-temperature and wear-resistant organic silicon modified epoxy resin are suitable for wear-resistant coatings between engine components, providing corrosion protection and increasing component reliability. There are also high weather resistance and self-cleaning anti-corrosion coatings that solve the problems of poor durability and weak anti-corrosion ability of outdoor steel structure anti-corrosion coatings. Meanwhile, heat-resistant powder coatings can be used in environments above 250 ℃ for a long time, while thermal protective coatings for supersonic flight provide protection.
When supersonic aircraft fly at high speeds in the atmosphere, their surface temperature can reach as high as 400-500 ℃. In response to this extreme environment, E-type epoxy resin modified with phenyl silicone resin exhibits excellent performance. Its tensile strength is not less than 7.1 MPa, the elongation at break reaches 1.04%, and the adhesion is also quite excellent, reaching 498.4 N/cm2. In addition, the specific heat capacity of the material is 1.627 × 103J/(kg · K), the thermal conductivity is only 0.146W/(m · K), and the thermal insulation performance parameter reaches 0.087kg2/(m4 · s). In the oxygen acetylene ablation test, the linear ablation rate was 0.194 mm/s and the mass ablation rate was 0.0729g/s. More importantly, its insulation performance has been rigorously tested, proving that the back wall temperature can be controlled within 260 ℃ in an environment of 500 ℃.
In addition, significant progress has been made in the field of floor coatings. Guangzhou Chemical Co., Ltd. of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has successfully developed a silicone modified epoxy resin floor coating, which not only has excellent impact resistance, but also long-term anti fouling. This is of great significance for addressing the shortcomings of current mainstream epoxy and polyurethane floor coatings in terms of impact resistance and long-term anti fouling.
In addition, nuclear radiation resistant coatings are also a major application highlight. This type of coating is mainly used for the internal and external surface protection of radioactive environments such as nuclear reactors and nuclear power plants. They need to have high radiation resistance, easy cleaning, corrosion resistance and other characteristics, while also absorbing radiation to protect the environment around the radiation source.

03. Conclusion
High performance polymer materials have demonstrated outstanding performance in the face of extreme environmental requirements such as supersonic aircraft. Especially the modified E-type epoxy resin has achieved remarkable levels of tensile strength, elongation at break, and adhesion. In addition, its excellent thermal insulation performance and erosion resistance ensure that the material can maintain stable performance in high temperature environments. At the same time, innovation in the field of floor coatings has provided new ideas for solving the problems existing in current mainstream floor coatings. The application of nuclear radiation resistant coatings provides reliable protection for radioactive environments such as nuclear reactors and power plants.
1. Introducing organosilicon into epoxy resin through physical blending or chemical modification can significantly improve its heat resistance, weather resistance, flexibility, wear resistance, hydrophobicity, and recoating ability. At the same time, this modification method can effectively reduce the internal stress of the system.
2. The modification of epoxy resin by organosilicon not only broadens the application field of pure epoxy resin, but also demonstrates its huge development potential in the modern coating industry, becoming an important coating base material.