The effect of third component calcite filler on properties of epoxy matri̇x E-glass woven fabri̇c rei̇nforced thermoset composites

Composite materials play a vital role in many industrial applications because of high modulus and high toughness, resistance to corrosion, good tribological properties and so on. Nowadays lot of research is going towards enhancing the mechanical properties of the composites. Works are reported mainly enhancing the properties by varying the fiber volume fraction, orientation and so on. Recent development in this field is improving mechanical properties by adding secondary reinforcements called fillers. Aim of this study is to investigate the effect of properties of a three component (epoxy resin matrix, e-glass woven fiber and calcite filler) composites with the change of epoxy resin and calcite filler volume ratios and determine in which cases which filler ratios should be used for manufacturing glass fiber reinforced composites. The e-glass woven fabric-epoxy composites have been fabricated with varying amounts of calcite particulate filler such as 0, 5, 10 and 15 (weight %) by using vacuum bagging technique. Also, the effects of calcite filler on epoxy resin have been studied in a second investigation. The epoxy have been fabricated with varying amounts of calcite particulate filler such as 0, 5, 10 and 15 (weight %). The tensile strength, flexural strength, impact strength, hardness values of the produced composites were obtained by mechanical tests. The water absorption and fiber volume ratios were obtained by physical tests. Furthermore, a cost calculation was made by determining the fiber, epoxy and filler prices. As a result, various charts related to mechanical properties and cost were obtained. Finally, experimental data were considered analytically and the morphology of fractured surfaces is examined by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Keywords: Epoxy, E-glass fiber, Calcite(CaCO3), Mechanical properties.