Characterization and evaluation of different reinforcement materials in polyester based composite production

With the development of technology, interest in composite material production has increased. However, the polymers used in composite materials alone cannot provide the desired properties. For this reason, it is necessary to use filler/reinforcement material to improve the mechanical properties of composite materials or to reduce their costs. For this study, organic and inorganic filling materials were used. The aim of this study is to prepare polyester-based composite materials by hand casting method by adding filling materials such as apricot stone shell, peach stone, borax and marble powder to unsaturated polyester resin in ratios of 5, 10, 20 and 40 wt%. Different mechanical tests such as tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, flexural strength and hardness were applied to evaluate the performance of the composite samples obtained. In addition, a limiting oxygen index (LOI) test was applied to determine the flame retardancy properties of borax and marble powder reinforced composite samples. According to the results of the tensile strength tests; With the addition of apricot stone shell and peach stone powder, the tensile strength values of the composite decreased, while it did not show much change up to 10 wt% for marble powder, it started to decrease at 20% and 40% values, while the addition of borax improved significantly except 40 wt%. The results of the flexural strength tests showed also a similar trend as the results of the tensile strength tests. According to the results of the hardness tests; It was found that the hardness of the apricot stone shell and peach stone reinforced composite decreased slightly, while the marble and borax powder reinforced composite was not affected negatively. The results of the flame retardancy tests; It was observed that marble and borax powder reinforced composite samples increased the limiting oxygen index (LOI) values.