PREPARATION AND PROPERTIES OF SiO2/Ag MICROBEADS USING ELECTROLESS PLATING METHOD

SiO2/Ag microbeads were synthesized using the electroless plating method by changing the addition order and the mixed method of electroless plating. Conducting composites were prepared using the prepared SiO2/Ag microbeads and unsaturated polyester resin as the fillers and substrate, respectively. The microstructure and properties of the prepared microbeads and composite were characterized with a scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), particle size analyzer, DC milliohm meter and vector network analysis tester. Results show that the SiO2/Ag microbeads prepared with the reverse dropping electroless plating method achieved the best uniformity and integrity of the silver coating on the surfaces of glass beads, and its compaction resistance reached 138.80 mΩ·cm. When the ratio of the prepared SiO2/Ag microbeads and unsaturated polyester resin was 1:2, the obtained coating composite had a resistivity of 2.79 × 10–5 Ω·cm, showing good electromagnetic shielding performance.