Fabrication and Mechanical Characterization of Glass Fiber Reinforced Epoxy with CFA and SiC

Abstract

From early history, builders, manufacturers, and engineers continued to develop composites of wide assortments of materials. Furthermore, chemical upheaval changed the composite development of plastics such as polyvinyl, polystyrene, etc., and reinforcement was reinforced essential to provide strength and rigidity. At present composites finds many applications in every aspects of day to day life. The utilization of raw materials like coal, baggase and agricultural wastes are used in large scales in industries for power generation and food production. The utilization of these fuels causing huge environmental pollution liberating in the form of ashes. These ashes can be utilized in effective way for manufacturing and structural applications with their incorporation in polymer matrix composites. To enhance the mechanical properties and in reducing the manufacturing cost, these industrial wastes plays a major role. The present research work mainly focuses on the influence of Coal Fly Ash (CFA), Silicon Carbide (SiC) and a mixture of CFA & SiC as filler materials on the mechanical behavior of Epoxy Glass fiber composite. Various types of composites are fabricated by manual hand lay-up process with varying weight percentages of the filler materials and epoxy resin as matrix material. The filler materials weight proportions are taken as 5%, 10% and 15%. The prepared composites are cut into tests specimen as per the ASTM standards of mechanical characterization. The mechanical properties of the composites (like Tensile strength (ASTM D3039/D3039M: 2017), Flexural strength (ASTM D790: 2015), Impact strength (ASTM D 229 el: 2019), Interlaminar shear strength (ASTM D2240: 2015), Hardness (ASTM D2240: 2015)) are determined by using corresponding testing machines and it is observed that the properties exhibited by the composites are enhanced with the incorporation of CFA, SiC & mixture of CFA and SiC when compared with the unfilled composites. So, these composites are considered a multifunctional composite material where the individual fillers are used in some applications and the combined proportions are used in different applications. They replace the existing materials that are very high in cost and cause more pollution at the time of manufacturing. These composites give the ability to improve and increase the efficiency, autonomy, and life expectancy of a structure.