evaluate the influence of the fiber cross-sectional aspect ratio on Mode I and Mode II
inter-laminar fracture toughness, inter-laminar shear strength, and Charpy impact
properties [5]. E. Zaretsky et al., investigated the dynamic response of a woven glass
fibers reinforced epoxy composite to a planar impact loading [7]. Kazuya Okubo et al.,
presented a research work development of composites for ecological purposes (Ecocomposites) using bamboo bers and their basic mechanical properties [8].
The present paper is a study on composite materials with and without filler. The
filler utilized for the purpose of study is CaCO3. The study focuses on the determination on
its mechanical properties, mainly tensile strength.
2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1. Fiber Material
Fiber is the reinforcing phase of a composite material. The present research work,
glass fiber is taken as the reinforcement in the epoxy matrix to fabricate composites. Glass
fibers are amorphous solids. Chemically, glass is composed of primarily of a silica (SiO 2)
backbone in front of (SiO4) tetrahedra. Modifier ions are added for their contribution to
glass properties and manufacturing capability. Chemical composition variation within a
glass type is from differences in the available glass batch raw materials, or in the melting
and forming processes, or from different environmental constraints at the manufacturing
site. These compositional fluctuations do not significantly alter the physical or chemical
properties of the glass type. Very tight control is maintained within a given production
facility to achieve consistency in the glass composition for production capability and
efficiency.
2.2 Matrix Material
Among different types of matrix materials, polymer matrices are the most commonly
used because of cost efficiency, ease of fabricating complex parts with less tooling cost and
they also have excellent room temperature properties when compared. Polymer matrices can
be either thermoplastic or thermoset. The most commonly used thermoset resins are epoxy,
vinyl ester, polyester and phenolics. Among them, the epoxy resins are being widely used for
many advanced composites due to their many advantages such as excellent adhesion to wide
variety of fibers, good performance at elevated temperatures and superior mechanical and
electrical properties. In addition to that they have low shrinkage upon curing and good
chemical resistance. Due to several advantages over other thermoset polymers as mentioned
above, epoxy (LY 556) is chosen as the matrix material for the present research work. It
chemically belongs to the epoxide family and its common name of epoxy is Bisphenol-ADiglycidyl-Ether [21].
2.3. Particulate Filler Material
Particulate fillers are plays an important role for the improvement of performance of
polymers and their composites. Various types of fillers of natural or synthetic, both organic
and inorganic is already being used as reinforcement in polymeric composites. Among them,
alumina (Al2O3), silicon carbide (SiC), silica (SiO2), titania (TiO2), calcium carbonate
(CaCO3) etc. are most widely used as conventional fillers. Due to the many advantages,
different weight percentages of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) particulate is used as filler
material for fabrication of glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites in the present work.
2.4. Specimen Preparation
2.4.1. Raw Materials
The castings of the above materials are put under load for about 24 hours for proper curing at
room temperature. Specimens of suitable dimension are cut using a diamond cutter for
physical characterization. The mix is stirred manually to disperse the fibers in the matrix. The
Page 304
cast of each composite is cured under a load of about 50 kg for 24 hours before it removed
from the mould. Then this cast is post cured in the air for another 24hours after removing out
of the mould. Specimens of suitable dimension are cut using a diamond cutter for mechanical
testing. Table 1 shows the mixing ratio and the properties of the mix. Table 2 shows the
designation of the composite without filler and Table 3 shows the designation of the
composite with filler.
Mixing Ratio
Epoxy LY 556
Hardener HY 951
100
10
parts by weight
parts by weight
at 25C
1700mPa-s
Gel time
at 25C
40-50 minutes
Composites
Compositions
GF1
GF2
GF3
Composites
Compositions
GFC1
GFC2
GFC3
Page 305
The tensile strength of the composite for Glass Fiber reinforced epoxy without filler and filler
is shown in Table 4.
Table 4. The tensile strength of the composite for Glass Fiber reinforced epoxy with and
without filler
Composite with filler
Tensile
Tensile
Composites without filler
Strength
Strength(Mpa)
(MPa)
GF1
90.32
GFC1
GF2
123.6
GFC2
GF3
146.5
GFC3
Epoxy+50wt%
glass fiber+5wt%
Calcium carbonate
Epoxy+50wt%
glass fiber+10wt%
Calcium carbonate
Epoxy+50wt%
glass fiber+20wt%
Calcium carbonate
141.3
129.4
114.7
The effect of weight fraction of fiber on the tensile strength of the composite is shown in
figure 3. As the weight fraction of fiber increases in the composites up to 50 wt%, the tensile
strength of composite is increases up to 146.5MPa. Also it can be seen that the tensile
strength of the composite decreases with increase in filler content. It is depicted in figure 4.
Page 306
Fig. 2 Flat specimen composites with filler content after Tensile test.
GFC -1
GFC - 2
GFC - 3
Page 307
Fig. 3 Effect of weight fraction of fiber on the tensile strength of the composite
Tensile strength(MPa)
Tensile Strength(Mpa)
200
150
100
50
tensile strength(Mpa)
0
GF1
GF2
GF3
Wt % of glass fiber
Tensile strength(MPa)
Tensile Strength(Mpa)
150
100
50
tensile strength(Mpa)
0
GFC1
GFC2
GFC3
wt% of filler
CONCLUSION
The figures 3 and 4 shows the results of the research work. It can be concluded that as the
weight fraction increases the tensile strength of the composite increases rapidly. Also, form
the figure 4 it can be concluded that as the filler content increases tensile strength of the
composite decreases. It can further be concluded that this may be due to the higher filler
loading; the interstitial volume must have been occupied by filler and there might be less
matrix available to contribute for the tensile strength.
REFERENCES
[1] V .K. Srivastava. Effect of filler on fracture of short glass fiber reinforced epoxy.
1989 pp. 113-119.
[2] Youjiang Wang, Jian Li and Dongming Zhao. Mechanical properties of fiber glass
and Kevlar woven fabric reinforced composites.1994 pp. 1159-I 175.
Page 308
Page 309