Development of pre-stressed polymer composite with waste rubber additives and investigation of its mechanical properties

The main objective of the thesis is to utilize recycled waste rubber particles obtained from scrap tires by incorporating them into polymer compositions and to develop a new generation of environmentally friendly, durable material by enhancing its performance with pre-stressed elements. As part of the study, Shore HL hardness measurements and density measurements based on the Archimedes principle were conducted on cube samples with different mixing ratios obtained by mixing specific proportions of waste rubber particles with epoxy resin. In the second stage, rebound tests and three-point bending tests were performed on samples obtained by applying pre-stress to steel elements placed within beam samples containing specific proportions of waste rubber particles. According to the test results, increasing the waste rubber content resulted in a decrease in the material's strength, toughness, modulus of elasticity, natural frequency, and hardness, while a partial increase in damping value was observed. It was determined that the pre-stressing ratio caused a partial decrease in the modulus of elasticity and had no significant effect on other parameters.