MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SIC AL2O3FILLED GLASS EPOXY COMPOSITES

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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET)
Volume 13, Issue 6, June 2022, pp. 11-17. Article ID: IJMET_13_06_002
Available online at https://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJMET?Volume=13&Issue=6
ISSN Print: 0976-6340 and ISSN Online: 0976-6359
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/73R
© IAEME Publication
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SIC
AL2O3FILLED GLASS EPOXY COMPOSITES
Venkata Kasi Viswanadham Kolipakula1, ACS Kumar 2, Ravinder Reddy Pinninti3
1
Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Technology, Telangana State, India
2
Jawaharlal Nehru Technical University - Hyderabad, Telangana State, India
3
Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology, Telangana State, India
ABSTRACT
In the present study, glass-epoxy based composites were fabricated by filling with
nano size SiC and Al2O3 filler particles. The hand lay-up approach was used for
fabrication of random oriented short E-glass fibre reinforced epoxy composites filled
with SiC and Al2O3 powder particles. The volume percentage of filler materials in the
composites were varied, SiC was varied from 0, 5 and 10%, whereas Al2O3 was kept
constant at 5%. Mechanical characterization were studied effectively. The filled and
unfilled SiC and Al2O3particles, were tested for micro-hardness, tensile strength, and
flexural strength in according with ASTM standards. It was observed from the studies
that using particles as fillers improved the mechanical properties of the E-glass fibre
substantially.
Keywords: Composites, SiC, Al2O3, epoxy, random orientation
Cite this Article: Venkata Kasi Viswanadham Kolipakula, ACS Kumar and Ravinder
Reddy Pinninti, Mechanical Properties of SiC Al2O3 Filled Glass Epoxy Composites,
International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), 13(6),
2022, pp. 11-17.
https://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJMET?Volume=13&Issue=6
1. INTRODUCTION
During recent years, polymer composites have become increasingly accepted in area of
tribological engineering material. In processes where surfaces come into touch with each other,
polymer composites with a low coefficient of friction and strong wear resistance are significant
[1,2]. In comparison to metals, polymer composites are extensively utilised in the tribological
sector due to lesser in weight, outstanding strength-to-weight ratio, flexibility in design,
corrosion resistance, and ease of manufacture, low cost, non-toxic nature and appreciable
friction and wear resistance [3-5].
Epoxy resins are versatile advanced thermoset materials and are used in many sophisticated
composites. This can be assigned to their adhesive property, great thermal stability, high
hardness, and good resistance, mechanical properties, and outstanding adhesion to diverse
reinforcement, low thermal viscosity, and low shrinkage during the curing process [5, 6]. Epoxy
resins are classified as thermoset polymers which have unique qualities where low pressure is
required to manufacture workpiece, minimal residual stresses and relatively tiny cure shrinkage

Mechanical Properties of SiC Al2O3 Filled Glass Epoxy Composites
[7,8]. These polymers can be employed at a wider temperature range with the appropriate curing
agent to control the level of cross-links. Epoxy resins are made available in a variety of forms,
including liquids with low viscosity and powders (solids) [6]. Low impact resistance and
toughness of the epoxy resins results in poor resistance to sliding wear. Composites with high
specific stiffness, high specific strength and ability to adjust properties of material through fibre
and matrix composition modification are the characteristics that make them as attractive in
industrial and technical materials [9]. The introduction of fibers in the resin may result in
increased load bearing capacity, reduced friction coefficients, and improved wear resistance
[10]. During tribological applications, it was observed that epoxy resin has poor wear resistance
and high friction coefficient. As a result, the incorporation of various fillers/additive particles
in epoxy resin has demonstrated tremendous achievements in desired mixture of tribological
properties during dry sliding [11].
To overcome these constraints, a lot of attention has been focused on nanoparticles and their
usage in traditional composites, due to their superior properties, nano particles emerged as
possible alternative for reinforcement [7-12]. The main advantage of nano composites over
micro composites is the performance gain that was commonly achieved at relatively lower
concentration of nanoparticles. The availability of a significantly large surface-to-volume ratio
with a higher percentage of particle atomic surfaces interacting with the matrix was responsible
for the remarkable improvement in mechanical properties of nano composites (known as
surface interaction) [13]. Higher concentrations of nanoparticles in nanocomposite, on the other
hand, cause agglomeration and, as a result of the stress concentration, crack propagation.
In recent times, micro, sub-micro, and nano-scale particles are used as filler materials in
epoxy to result higher-performance composites through improved characteristics. Numerous
studies have discovered that a wide range of micro and nano-inorganic fillers, such as Al2O3,
SiC, ZnO, TiO2, SiO2, nano-Si3N4and MnO2 can improve the tribological and mechanical
properties of polymer composites significantly [9-15]. Nanoparticles such as nano-
Al2O3/polyimide, nano-TiO2/epoxy, and nano-ZnO/poly tetra fluoro ethylene can also be used
to improve the tribological properties of composites. Further, it was observed that micro sized
Al2O3/epoxy composite exhibited low potential discharge resistance when compared to nano-
micro Al2O3/epoxy composite [16]. However, little research has been done on the effect of
various particles on random direction E-glass fabric.
In the present work an attempt has been made to investigate the mechanical properties of
fiber reinforced randomly oriented E-glass composite with filler powder particles. The hand
lay-up approach was used to create random direction short E-glass fibre reinforced epoxy resin
composites filled with SiC and Al2O3powder particles. The volume percentage of filler
materials in the composites were varied, SiC was varied from 0, 5 and 10%, whereas Al2O3 was
kept constant at 5%. Mechanical characterization were studied effectively. The filled and
unfilled SiC and Al2O3particles, were tested for micro-hardness, tensile strength, according
with ASTM standards.The present work is expected to widen the application of random
direction E-glass fibre composites in dry-sliding conditions.
2. EXPERIMENTATION
The hand lay-up approach was used to create random direction short E-glass fibre reinforced
epoxy resin composites filled with SiC and Al2O3 particles as shown in Figure 1. Epoxy resin
and E-glass fibre are used to create randomly oriented short fibre composites (length 1-6 mm).
The liquid epoxy is combined with a curing ingredient (hardener) to polymerize the polymer
and form a solid network cross-linked polymer. Epoxy resin and hardness are blended in a 2:1
weight ratio. The volume percentage of filler materials in the composites were varied as shown
in Table 1, SiC was varied from 0, 5 and 10%, whereas Al2O3 was kept constant at 5%. Then a

Venkata Kasi Viswanadham Kolipakula, ACS Kumar and Ravinder Reddy Pinninti
small amount of the mixture was put into the mould to produce a layer. The mould was filled
with a layer of randomly arranged fibre. After the fabrication of the specimen, the tensile
samples where shown in Figure 1. The samples were fabricated using a process called book
press method, in which lower layer of the wooden plank was setup with 500x300x3 mm and
the other side of the plank closed with wooden plank with eight fasteners for air tight fitting.
The fabricated samples were separated from the sealed wooden plank, the specimens were
prepared according to the dimensions.
Figure 1 Tensile specimens as per ASTM D3039, A1, A2 represents composition with E-glass epoxy
composite (unfilled particulates), B1, B2 represents the composites with E-glass epoxy with 5% SiC
and 5% Al2O3 particulates, C1, C2 represents the composites with E-glass epoxy with 10% SiC and
5% Al2O3 particulates.
Table 1 Details of composite metal powder particles
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
3.1. Rockwell hardness Test
The hardness tests were performed according to ASTM D785 (30×30×6.4). Hardness is one of
the important parameter to govern the wear resistance of materials. The micro-hardness of
GFRP composites with filled and unfilled SiC and Al2O3 particulates with difference
concentrations have been obtained.The experimental results observed that with the effect of
addition of SiC and Al2O3 filler nano particles on the Rockwell microhardness (HR) property
of the GFRP composite with variation of time and load is shown in Figure. From figure it was
observed that for sample A (unfilled particulates) shown low HR value compare to sample B
and sample C. It was also observed from Figure that with the addition of SiC and Al2O3(sample
B) filler particulates in GFRP composites shown high hardness. The trend of improvement of
HR value was observed for sample C (with the increase of SiC concentration to 10% and
keeping Al2O3 as constant 5%). The increase of HR value for sample is because of effective

dispersion of SiC and Al2O3 filler particles in GFRP composites. An increase in % in HR value
was attained for all loading conditions over sample 1 and sample 2. Devesh[10] studied the
mechanical properties of E-glass reinforced epoxy composite by adding nano particulates. High
hardness value obtained with the addition of filler particulates of 5wt% of Al2O3 in E-glass
reinforced epoxy composites, compare to 10wt% and 15wt%. The decrease of hardness
(strength and integrity of material) with the addition of increase of Al2O3 (10wt% and 15wt%)
particulates in E-glass reinforced epoxy composite may be attributed as agglomeration of
particulates.
Figure 2 Comparison of hardness test for sample A, sample B and for Sample C
3.2. Tensile Test
Tensile tests were performed according to ASTM D3039 standards. The measured tensile
behaviour of E-glass fibre reinforced epoxy resin and its composite specimens unfilled and
filled with varying concentration of SiC particles and constant Al2O3nano particulates are
shown in Figure. It was observed that the tensile strength of composite increases gradually with
the addition of filler particulates. It was noted that with the addition of 10wt% of SiC and 5wt%
of Al2O3 particulates in composites resulted high tensile strength compare to 5wt% of SiC and
5wt% of Al2O3 and during unfilled particulates. AkashMohanty [4] studied that with the
increase in concentration of Al2O3 no effect on the strength of filler particulates in E-glass fiber
reinforced epoxy composites. The addition of SiC and Al2O3 filler particulates in GFRP
composite specimen of sample 3 shows a significant improvement in tensile properties when
compare to sample 1 and sample 2. This is because of high strength and high hardness of SiC
and Al2O3 filled particulate with GFRP composites, respectively [13]. The effect of interaction
of chemical compatibility between SiC and Al2O3 filler particulate inorganic phase and epoxy
matrix phase is enhanced and thereby the hardness and stiffness of the filled SiC and Al2O3
particles together with interfacial interface between filler particle phase and epoxy matrix phase
to cause the improvement of strength.

Figure 3 Comparison of tensile strength for sample A, sample B and for Sample C
Decrease in trend of tensile strength was found with the increase in addition of Al2O35wt%,
10wt% and 15wt% of filler particulates in E-glass epoxy composite [3].Sriraman[13] studies
revealed that the tensile strength decreases with the increase in concentration of Al2O3
particulates in glass epoxy composites may be due to the strength of chemical bonding between
matrix body and filler particulates is too weak or due to the irregular shaped filler particulates.
This may result in increase in void percentage at sharp cornets in the composites with increase
in filler particulates.
Figure 4
3.3. Flexural Strength
It is essential to study the flexural characteristics of new developed composites. Flexural tests
were performed to understand the composite resistance to flexural loading over addition of
particulates and E-glass fiber loading in the epoxy matrix. Figure shows the comparison of
variation of flexural strength of E-glass fibre reinforced epoxy composite with varying wt% of
SiC filler particulates. As seen from the Figure, for sample A, flexural strength of glass-epoxy
composite with unfilled particulates has low when compare with sample B and sample C. The

high flexural strength was observed with 10 wt% of SiC and 5 wt% of Al2O3 filler particulates
as shown in Figure.
E-glass epoxy composite with unfilled particulates shows the lowest flexural strength.
Whereas composites with 5 wt% if SiC and 5 wt% of Al2O3 filler particulates shows superior
performance when compare with E-glass epoxy composite with unfilled particulates. With the
increase in interfacial bonding and excellent compatibility of the filler particulates in the glass-
epoxy matrix results in improvement of flexural strength of the composites [10]. Because of
voids, fiber to fiber interaction and dispersion problems in the glass-epoxy matrix may show
lover values of flexural properties [9].
Figure 5 Comparison of flexural strength for sample A, sample B and for Sample C
4. CONCLUSIONS
In the present study a systematic investigation has been performed to understand the effect of
varying SiC and Al2O3 filler particulates in E-glass epoxy composites. The work mainly focused
on the mechanical properties of epoxy based varying concentration of SiC and constant Al2O3
particulates, glass-fibre reinforced composites. The required sample specimens are fabricated
using hand-layup technique. Mechanical properties were improved for sample C at addition of
10 wt% of SiC and 5 wt% of Al2O3 particulates into epoxy composite. With the addition of
filler particulates for random orientation short E-GFRP composites increases with increase in
SiC filler particles. The addition of alumina nano particles in the epoxy matrix improves
adhesion strength, resulting in better fiber-matrix interface strength. The significant
improvement of hardness, tensile strength and flexural strength was observed in the E-GFRP
composite with addition of SiC and Al2O3 particles.
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