THE EFFECT OF SILICON-CARBIDE ADDITIONS ON THE MECHANICAL AND THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY PROPERTIES OF FIBER-REINFORCED EPOXY COMPOSITES

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of adding silicon carbide (SiC) filler with various weight percentages on the mechanical and thermal properties of carbon- and glass-fiber-reinforced epoxy composites. Alterations in the filler content were analyzed to observe the composite material’s response to loading, assessing mechanical properties such as hardness, impact resistance, tensile strength, flexural strength and thermal conductivity. The investigation focuses on composite materials comprising carbon fibers and glass fibers to enhance the binder material (epoxy resin). Accordingly, four different groups of samples were prepared for experimentation. The first group consisted solely of epoxy resin, while the second group of samples contained epoxy resin reinforced with 15 w/% SiC. The third and fourth groups of samples included three layers of glass fibers, with and without 15 w/% SiC reinforcement, respectively. In the fifth and sixth groups of samples there were three layers: one upper layer of glass fibers, one layer of carbon fiber in the middle, and one layer of glass fiber at the bottom, with and without 15 w/% SiC reinforcement, respectively. The experimental findings revealed that the sixth group of samples exhibited lower heat conductivity (with an overall reduction of 10.9 % compared to samples from other groups), while demonstrating the highest tensile strength, hardness, flexural strength values and impact resistance (showing improvements of 20 %, 50 %, 19.5 %, and 11 % respectively, compared to samples from other groups).