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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

An Experimental Investigation of Tensile Strength of


Glass Composite Materials With Calcium Carbonate
(CaCO3) Filler
Mukul Kant Paliwal#1, Sachin Kumar Chaturvedi#2

#1, #2 Al-Falah School of Engineering & Technology, Dhauj, Faridabad, India.


Pin 201308

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.

Corresponding Author: Mukul Kant Paliwal

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.

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS


2.1. Fiber Material
Fiber is the reinforcing phase of a composite material. The present research work,
glass fiber is taken as the reinforcement in the epoxy matrix to fabricate composites. Glass
fibers are amorphous solids. Chemically, glass is composed of primarily of a silica (SiO 2)
backbone in front of (SiO4) tetrahedra. Modifier ions are added for their contribution to
glass properties and manufacturing capability. Chemical composition variation within a
glass type is from differences in the available glass batch raw materials, or in the melting
and forming processes, or from different environmental constraints at the manufacturing
site. These compositional fluctuations do not significantly alter the physical or chemical
properties of the glass type. Very tight control is maintained within a given production
facility to achieve consistency in the glass composition for production capability and
efficiency.
2.2 Matrix Material
Among different types of matrix materials, polymer matrices are the most commonly
used because of cost efficiency, ease of fabricating complex parts with less tooling cost and
they also have excellent room temperature properties when compared. Polymer matrices can
be either thermoplastic or thermoset. The most commonly used thermoset resins are epoxy,
vinyl ester, polyester and phenolics. Among them, the epoxy resins are being widely used for
many advanced composites due to their many advantages such as excellent adhesion to wide
variety of fibers, good performance at elevated temperatures and superior mechanical and
electrical properties. In addition to that they have low shrinkage upon curing and good
chemical resistance. Due to several advantages over other thermoset polymers as mentioned
above, epoxy (LY 556) is chosen as the matrix material for the present research work. It
chemically belongs to the epoxide family and its common name of epoxy is Bisphenol-A-
Diglycidyl-Ether [21].
2.3. Particulate Filler Material
Particulate fillers are plays an important role for the improvement of performance of
polymers and their composites. Various types of fillers of natural or synthetic, both organic
and inorganic is already being used as reinforcement in polymeric composites. Among them,
alumina (Al2O3), silicon carbide (SiC), silica (SiO2), titania (TiO2), calcium carbonate
(CaCO3) etc. are most widely used as conventional fillers. Due to the many advantages,
different weight percentages of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) particulate is used as filler
material for fabrication of glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites in the present work.
2.4. Specimen Preparation
2.4.1. Raw Materials
The castings of the above materials are put under load for about 24 hours for proper curing at
room temperature. Specimens of suitable dimension are cut using a diamond cutter for
physical characterization. The mix is stirred manually to disperse the fibers in the matrix. The

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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

Epoxy LY 556 100 parts by weight


Hardener HY 951 10 parts by weight

Table 1. The properties of the mix


Properties of the mix
Viscosity at 25C 1700mPa-s
Gel time at 25C 40-50 minutes

Table 2. The designation of the composite without filler


Composites Compositions
GF1 Epoxy+30wt% glass fiber
GF2 Epoxy+40wt% glass fiber
GF3 Epoxy+50wt% glass fiber

Table 3. The designation of the composite with filler


Composites Compositions
GFC1 Epoxy + Glass Fiber (50wt%)+CaCO3 (5wt%)
GFC2 Epoxy + Glass Fiber (50wt%)+ CaCO3 (10wt%)
GFC3 Epoxy + Glass Fiber (50wt%)+ CaCO3 (20wt%)

3. RESULTS AND DISSCUSSIONS


3.1 Characterization of the composites (Tensile Strength)
The tension test is generally performed on flat specimens as shown in figure 1. The
figure 1 shows the flat specimen before testing and the figure 2 shows the flat specimen after
testing. The most commonly used specimen geometries are the dog-bone specimen and
straight-sided specimen with end tabs. A uni-axial load is applied through the ends. The
ASTM standard test recommends that the specimens with fibers parallel to the loading
direction should be 19 mm wide. Length of the test section should be 165 mm. The test-piece
used here was of dog bone type and having dimensions according to the standards. The
tension test was performed on all the three samples as per ASTM D3039-76 test standards.

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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.1: Flat Tensile test specimen before test.

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

Fig. 4. Effect of filler content on tensile strength of the composite

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

[3] Varna J, Joffe R,Berglund A. Effect of voids on failure mechanisms in RTM


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[4] Manwar Hussain, Atsushi Nakahira, Koichi Niihara. Mechanical property
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[5] Shiqiang Deng, Lin Ye,Yiu-Wing Mai. Influence of fiber cross sectional aspect ratio
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[8] Kazuya Okubo, Toru Fujii, Yuzo Yamamoto. Development of bamboo-based polymer
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[9] P.V. Vasconcelos , F.J. Lino , A. Magalhaes , R.J.L. Neto. Impact fracture study of
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[10] Hui Zhang, Zhong Zhang, Klaus Friedrich, Christian Eger.Property improvements
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