Investigation of the best percentage, by weight, of glass powder as filler in phenolic resin using three point bending test

Abstract

Phenolic Resin is a useful but expensive engineering material used in a wide range of structural applications. Fortunately the nature of Phenolic Resin means that fillers can be easily added to it to produce a Phenolic Composite with a lower cost per unit volume than the original resin. The addition of the filler also means the composite has different physical properties. Previous research has been conducted into which materials can be used as fillers and Glass Powder was found to be one such material. This project aims to investigate the Best Percentage, by weight, of glass powder as Filler in Phenolic Resin using the Three Point Bending Test. The percentages tested were 5%, 10%, 20%, 25% and 30%. A number of phenolic composite specimens of each composition were created by hand and poured into moulds for preliminary curing. After preliminary curing they were removed from the moulds and placed in a conventional oven for post curing. Post Curing took place at 50 degrees C for 4hrs, 80 degrees C for 4hrs and 100 degrees C for 2hrs. At the completion of post curing the specimens were subjected to the Three Point Bending Test according to International Standard ISO 14125:1998(E) which applies tensile, compressive and shear stresses to test specimen. The testing machine produced a plot of load versus elongation from which Flexural Strength, Flexural Strain and Flexural Modulus were calculated and plotted for analysis in order to determine the best percentage of glass filler by weight.