Experimental Study on Effect of Heating Epoxy Resin on Mechanical Properties of Epoxy-Calcium Carbonate Composite

The present work deals with the experimental study of effect of heating of epoxy resin on mechanical properties of epoxy-CaCO3 composite. Epoxy resin is heated to a temperature of 800C and CaCO3 filler is mixed with it in various weight percentages. Specimens were developed according to ASTM standards by using open mould technique. The filler CaCO3 is mineral filler with particle size of 0.73 µm. The mechanical properties like tensile strength and bending strength are determined. Also microstructure was analyzed at 100X using optical image analyzer with resolution range of 100X to 1000X. The mechanical tests were carried out in Universal Testing Machine (UTM) of maximum capacity 400 kN. The results show that heating of epoxy resin has a noteworthy effect on mechanical properties of the final composite. Tensile strength of composite was decreased by heating epoxy resin, whereas bending strength of composite was increased. Also as filler weight percentage is increased there is a reduction in both tensile and bending strengths. Microstructure analysis shows that tensile specimen got weakened very early as compared to bending specimens.