Investigation of the tensile strength of SiO₂ doped epoxy material

In this study, the strength differences between pure epoxy material and doped epoxy material were investigated. It is aimed that the epoxy material, which is mostly used as a reinforcement, is added to become more durable these days when composite materials are becoming more and more widespread. In this direction, the epoxy and hardener material purchased from a private company was first put into the tensile test by casting in standard volumes at the ratios of 1/1 – 1.5/1 – 2/1, 2.5/1 – 3/1, respectively. Then, silica particles in 80 nanometer size and 5-20 nanometer size in different percentages were used as additive material. Magnetic stirrer and sonicator machines were used to perform the doping process homogeneously. The tensile strengths of the additives were also examined and compared by performing tensile tests. As a result, 2/1 ratio was determined as the optimum epoxy/hardener ratio. In epoxies with additives, an increase in strength was observed as the size of the additive decreased. In addition, the optimum contribution rate was determined as 0.5 percent.