Mechanical Properties of Micro-Size Glass Beads Filled Epoxy Composites

Solid glass microspheres of around 100 microns size were incorporated in epoxy matrix in present work. Composite were fabricated in six different sets using simple hand lay-up technique. The filler content varies in between 0 wt% i.e. neat epoxy and 25 wt % for fabricating the different sets of composites. The main emphasis of the present work is on the general trends observed in their mechanical properties i.e. micro-hardness, tensile strength, flexural strength and impact energy. In the analysis it was found that, solid glass microsphere invariably increases the micro-hardness and impact energy of the composite and this increase is a function of filler content. On the other hand it was found that flexural strength increases but the rate of increase of this strength is very less whereas a surprising output of this analysis was that the tensile strength decreases with increase in filler content though the decrement is marginal.