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6 (September 2012)
Available online on http://www.rspublication.com/ijeted/ijeted_index.htm ISSN 2249-6149
ABSTRACT
Composites materials are used in almost all aspects of the industrial and commercial
fields in aircraft, ships, common vehicles, etc. Their most attractive properties are the high
strength-to-weight ratio. However, these materials also have some problems such as fiber
fracture, matrix cracking and delamination. Matrix cracks and fiber fractures play an
important role in laminates under tensile load. Delamination may be formed due to a wide
variety of foreign object impact damage, poor fabrication process, and fatigue from
environment cycle. Materials added to the matrix help improving operating properties of a
composite. This experimental study has targeted to investigate the tensile strength of glass
fiber and epoxy resin based composite with CaCO 3 as a filler. E-glass/epoxy composites were
first manufactured to fabricate the specimens, using Hand lay-up technique. The tensile tests
were carried out on the specimen for the determination of its mechanical properties.
Key words: Glass fiber, Epoxy resin, Calcium Carbonate, Tensile strength.
1. INTRODUCTION
When two or more materials with different properties are combined together, they
form a composite material. In general, the properties of composite materials are superior in
many respects, to those of the individual constituents [1]. The composites provide various
advantages such as; they are dimensionally stable in space during temperature changes.
They constitute an outstanding feature of high strength to weight ratio. Besides these, they
also possess high corrosion resistance properties. This has provided the main motivation
for the research and development of composite materials.
A few researchers such as V.K. Srivastava et al., studied the effect of fly-ash filler
in short glass fiber and random glass fiber reinforced epoxy resin were studied under
tensile loading. The results showed that the fracture properties of short and random glass
fiber reinforced epoxy resin can be increased by filling fly-ash particles and coating of
fibers [1]. Youjiang Wanget et al., performed a study on woven fabric/epoxy composites
focusing on their mechanical properties under uniaxial tensile, flexural, compressive, short
beam shear and interlaminar fracture loading conditions [2]. Manwar Hussainet et al.,
investigated the mechanical properties of carbon fiber reinforced composites and
Al2O3particles dispersed carbon fiber hybrid reinforced composites [4]. Shiqiang Deng et
al., performed a systematic experimental investigation on glass fiber/epoxy composites
with fibers of different cross-sectional shapes (round, peanut-shaped and oval) in order to
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International Journal of Emerging trends in Engineering and Development Issue 2, Vol.6 (September 2012)
Available online on http://www.rspublication.com/ijeted/ijeted_index.htm ISSN 2249-6149
evaluate the influence of the fiber cross-sectional aspect ratio on Mode I and Mode II
inter-laminar fracture toughness, inter-laminar shear strength, and Charpy impact
properties [5]. E. Zaretsky et al., investigated the dynamic response of a woven glass
fibers reinforced epoxy composite to a planar impact loading [7]. Kazuya Okubo et al.,
presented a research work development of composites for ecological purposes (Eco-
composites) using bamboo bers and their basic mechanical properties [8].
The present paper is a study on composite materials with and without filler. The
filler utilized for the purpose of study is CaCO3. The study focuses on the determination on
its mechanical properties, mainly tensile strength.
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International Journal of Emerging trends in Engineering and Development Issue 2, Vol.6 (September 2012)
Available online on http://www.rspublication.com/ijeted/ijeted_index.htm ISSN 2249-6149
cast of each composite is cured under a load of about 50 kg for 24 hours before it removed
from the mould. Then this cast is post cured in the air for another 24hours after removing out
of the mould. Specimens of suitable dimension are cut using a diamond cutter for mechanical
testing. Table 1 shows the mixing ratio and the properties of the mix. Table 2 shows the
designation of the composite without filler and Table 3 shows the designation of the
composite with filler.
Mixing Ratio
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International Journal of Emerging trends in Engineering and Development Issue 2, Vol.6 (September 2012)
Available online on http://www.rspublication.com/ijeted/ijeted_index.htm ISSN 2249-6149
The tensile strength of the composite for Glass Fiber reinforced epoxy without filler and filler
is shown in Table 4.
Table 4. The tensile strength of the composite for Glass Fiber reinforced epoxy with and
without filler
Composite with filler Tensile
Tensile
Composites without filler Strength
Strength(Mpa)
(MPa)
Epoxy+50wt%
GF1 Epoxy+30wt% glass fiber 90.32 GFC1 glass fiber+5wt% 141.3
Calcium carbonate
Epoxy+50wt%
GF2 Epoxy+40wt% glass fiber 123.6 GFC2 glass fiber+10wt% 129.4
Calcium carbonate
Epoxy+50wt%
GF3 Epoxy+50wt% glass fiber 146.5 GFC3 glass fiber+20wt% 114.7
Calcium carbonate
The effect of weight fraction of fiber on the tensile strength of the composite is shown in
figure 3. As the weight fraction of fiber increases in the composites up to 50 wt%, the tensile
strength of composite is increases up to 146.5MPa. Also it can be seen that the tensile
strength of the composite decreases with increase in filler content. It is depicted in figure 4.
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International Journal of Emerging trends in Engineering and Development Issue 2, Vol.6 (September 2012)
Available online on http://www.rspublication.com/ijeted/ijeted_index.htm ISSN 2249-6149
Fig. 2 Flat specimen composites with filler content after Tensile test.
GFC -1 GFC - 2
GFC - 3
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International Journal of Emerging trends in Engineering and Development Issue 2, Vol.6 (September 2012)
Available online on http://www.rspublication.com/ijeted/ijeted_index.htm ISSN 2249-6149
Fig. 3 Effect of weight fraction of fiber on the tensile strength of the composite
Tensile Strength(Mpa)
200
Tensile strength(MPa)
150
100
50 tensile strength(Mpa)
0
GF1 GF2 GF3
Wt % of glass fiber
Tensile Strength(Mpa)
150
Tensile strength(MPa)
100
50
tensile strength(Mpa)
0
GFC1 GFC2 GFC3
wt% of filler
CONCLUSION
The figures 3 and 4 shows the results of the research work. It can be concluded that as the
weight fraction increases the tensile strength of the composite increases rapidly. Also, form
the figure 4 it can be concluded that as the filler content increases tensile strength of the
composite decreases. It can further be concluded that this may be due to the higher filler
loading; the interstitial volume must have been occupied by filler and there might be less
matrix available to contribute for the tensile strength.
REFERENCES
[1] V .K. Srivastava. Effect of filler on fracture of short glass fiber reinforced epoxy.
1989 pp. 113-119.
[2] Youjiang Wang, Jian Li and Dongming Zhao. Mechanical properties of fiber glass
and Kevlar woven fabric reinforced composites.1994 pp. 1159-I 175.
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International Journal of Emerging trends in Engineering and Development Issue 2, Vol.6 (September 2012)
Available online on http://www.rspublication.com/ijeted/ijeted_index.htm ISSN 2249-6149
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