Experimental study of the effect of polymer fiber based on epoxy resin on compressive and flexural strength parameters

Abstract

In this study, effective parameters on polymer concrete (PC) based on epoxy resin such as filler, hardener and solvent are investigated. Rice husk and broom stem ashes as fillers with mixture of 50-50% Acetone-Toluene as solvent in preparation of PC samples were used. According to experimental results, addition of fillers improved compressive, flexural and chemical strengths of the PC samples. In the sample with 18.4% polymer, additional of rice husk ash with ratio of filler-aggregate 0.075, compressive strength improved by 21%. For the sample with broom stem ash ratio of filler-aggregate 0.09, the flexural strength was improved by 27%. In addition, experimental data proved that addition of optimum amount of solvent improved the performance and enhanced the compressive and flexural strengths. But excess amount of solvent may reduce the adhesiveness of the polymer therefore it may have negative impact on PC. The combination of hardener-resin may influence on the strength of PC. Amine type of hardener with low equivalent weight improved 27 and 13% on compressive and flexural strengths. Also elasticity module was increased in compare with the samples having high equivalent weight of amine type hardener.