Abstract
Keywods
Trifunctional Epoxi Resin, Glass Beads, Mechanical Behaviour, Young Modulus, SEM.
Abstract
Trifunctional epoxy resin used for industrial application has opened new fields in the fabrication of automotion pieces. The studied material is a composite made for trifunctional epoxy resin diglycidyl ether of para-aminophenol (TGAP), supplied by VANTICO with the product name of Araldite MY510 and an amine hardener called 4,4 diaminodiphenylsulfone (DDS), also supplied by VANTICO and with product name Aradur 9664-1. Glass beads made from calcium sodium silicate was used as a filler supplied by SORBITE as Micropearl® with diameter of 24mm.
The mechanical behaviour of this composite was studied (tensile and flexural test). Results show that tensile resistance depends on the filler proportion in the matrix, good adhesion between filler and matrix and good dispersion of the filler in the matrix.
SEM was used to show the good adhesion between filler and matrix and a moderate dispersion of glass beads. The proportion of this was not above 40% in weight of the matrix. A greater proportion than this would have perhaps caused the dispersion to be worse as the glass beads would have formed agglomerations between them and the adhesion would have also been affected. For that reason, composites had different proportions of filler, between 10% and 40%. It was not considered that a pre-treatment of the filler was necessary because both resin and filler has a good adhesion, according with the studies about de samples realised by SEM.
The results show that mechanical properties increase according to filler proportion. The composites with 40% of glass beads are considered to be useful structural composites for automotive applications according to their tensile and flexural values.