Effective resin content and its effect on the overall performance of polymer concrete for precision machine tools

Abstract

Polymer concrete (PC) is associated with an enormous potential in fabricating the machine tool bed due to its superior damping properties. However, its inferior mechanical property is one of the major drawbacks limiting its application in precision machine tools. Admittedly, the resin content has remarkably affected the mechanical properties of PC, and its heavy use will notably increase the manufacturing cost of PC. Typically, the effective resin content is mainly dependent on the porosity accumulated by the total aggregate. In this study, the effects of fractal dimension on the mechanical properties, damping ratio and porosity of PC were systematically investigated. Our experimental results demonstrated that the porosity, flexural strength and damping ratio of PC were first decreased and then increased with the increase in fractal dimension, whereas the compressive strength had exhibited the opposite trend. Additionally, our experimental results also indicated that the air void was increased on the whole with the increase in fractal dimension. Finally, the relationships between the overall performance of PC (namely, compressive strength, flexural strength, and damping ratio) and the effective resin content were examined, which showed that the overall performance of PC was closely correlated with its effective resin content. Moreover, this study was also of great significance to reduce the manufacturing cost of PC and improve its application in precision machine tool bed.