Fracture toughness of phenolic resins composite by using saw dust as filler of percentage by weight

Abstract

Phenol formaldehyde based resole thermosetting resin supplied by Borden Chemical Australia Pty was used as composite matrix binder enforce with saw dust grains as fillers to evaluate the fracture toughness. This is a pilot study of using saw dust as fillers at three different grain sizes and percentage of weight varies from 5% to 25%. By testing fracture toughness and viscosity at ranges of filler sizes and mixtures percentage ratio by weight, the best possible mixture ratio was able to determine the workability, cost and performance. The composites obtained were post-cured in a conventional oven. It was found that the maximum value of fracture toughness of the samples in this study occurs at the grain size of 425μm . The shape of the curves obtained by plotting the values of fracture toughness against percentage by weight of saw dust was also different. The possible reasons for their difference were also explained. The maximum viscosity recorded was possible mixtures that were able to obtain were up to 20%.