A pilot study on the flexural properties of vinyl ester composites filled with glass powder

Abstract

Vinyl ester resin was filled with of glass powder with a view to increasing the flexural strength of the composites for civil and structural applications by a research Centre on composites, University of Southern Queensland (USQ). In order to reduce costs, the Centre wishes to fill as much glass powder as possible to the resin subject to maintaining sufficient strength of the composites in civil and structural applications. This project varies the percentage by weight of the glass powder in the composites, which are then subjected to flexural tests. The flexural strength and strain of the glass powder filled vinyl ester composites decreased with increasing filler content but the flexural modulus was highest at 20 w/t % of glass powder. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) was used to analyze the fractured samples and it was found that the fractured surfaces examined were correlated with the flexural properties.