Abstract
This study focused on the experimental and theoretical evaluation of the thermal stability of epoxy resins for the development of neon transformer housings. A variety of hardeners was added to the epoxy resin to improve the thermal stability and workability of the neon transformer. Silicon dioxide ($SiO_2$) also was added as a reinforcement filler. Then, the variation of the viscosity and thermal stability with the amount of reinforcement filler and hardener was evaluated. A hardener modified with cycloaliphatic aminewas superior to the polyamide type hardener in terms of the physical properties and the optimum curing conditions were found to be a curing time of 70 min at 343 K. The viscosity of the epoxy resin increased with increasing amount of silicon dioxide ($SiO_2$), whereas the volume deformation ratio used for the evaluation of the thermal stability decreased. As a result, it was concluded that the polyamide type hardener had superior characteristics in terms of the workability and thermal stability and that the optimum silicon dioxide ($SiO_2$) content was 50 wt%.