Effect of micro granite powder reinforcement on mechanical, physical and morphological properties of epoxy composite

Abstract

This research focuses on the influence of micro granite powder on the mechanical, thermal, chemical resistance and water uptake properties of epoxy resin. Granite powder is a low-cost and widely available byproduct of the granite polishing industry that, when employed as a filler in epoxy resin, can drastically reduce the cost of composites. It has unique properties, such as light in weight and hardness. Granite powder, collected from local industries, was used as a filler material in epoxy resin. Here, composite was fabricated using hand layup technique, by incorporating the various weight percentage of 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 granite powder into epoxy resin. Tensile and bending/flexural, thermal, structural and water absorption properties of epoxy, and granite powder added epoxy composites were carried out. The fabricated composite shows higher tensile and flexural strength than the pure epoxy resin. The resulting composites mechanical characteristics improved as the granite powder content was increased to 15% by weight. Functional groups and chemical bonding was studied using FTIR Spectroscopy.