Investigation of mechanical behavior of egg shell reinforced polymer composites

In recent years, there has been a growing interest on the production of an alternative material having more economic and better mechanical properties than conventional materials to reduce environmental pollution caused by the widespread consumption of eggshell waste and to conserve natural resources. In this study, mechanical behavior of eggshell reinforced composite specimens which is obtained by casting into RTV 2 silicone molds based on epoxy was investigated. Test specimens were prepared by reinforcing 5%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% eggshell powder by weight to epoxy and pure epoxy resin according to ASTM standards. After that these composite specimens were subjected to tensile and three-point bending tests. In the results of the tests, the best tensile strength was obtained by reinforcing 5% of the weight ratio of eggshell powder. Increasing the weight ratio of the reinforcing element from 0% to 5%, tensile strength was also increased. But, increasing the weight ratio from 5% to 40% very significant reductions in tensile strength were observed. In the three point bending tests for the bending behavior, the highest strength was obtained in 20% by weight reinforcement of eggshell powder. Adding more than 20% of the weight ratio of the reinforcing element, the bending strength of the composite specimens has been decreased. As a result, it has been observed that the tensile and bending behavior of eggshell reinforced composite specimens based on polymer have been significantly changed according to the reinforcement ratio by weight.