Composites from natural renewable resources in civil engineering: Epoxidized vegetable oil with epoxy resin, fly ash and sawdust fillers(mechanical, physical and structural properties)

摘要

In this project composite was made from epoxy resin of the type GY-191 produced by Hexion Speciality Chemical Pty Ltd , epoxidised linseed oil locally produced from the University of Southern Queensland lab and fillers of sawdust and Evirospheres (SLG). Aradur-250 amine was used as hardener. Ratio of epoxy resin to Aradur hardener was varied; the first ratio was 2:1 and last one was 3:1. Background information pressure on traditional building material such as concrete, timber and steel is becoming unbearable. As such a number of researches are being carried out throughout the world to look for material that will release pressure on building materials. For material to be accepted as a building material it’s physical, mechanical and structural properties have to be known to meet basic criteria for building material.udAims and objectives: The aims of the project were to investigate the physical, mechanical and structural properties of composite made from renewable resources (Epoxy resin and epoxidised vegetable oil (linseed oil (ELO)) and by using wastes material such as sawdust and SLG as fillers. Preparation Samples were prepared with different percentage in weight of sawdust and SLG. The two main sizes of sawdust used were 600 and 1650 microns. Percentage of SLG was varied as well as sawdust. The composite was subjected to preparation that includes weighing, mixing, curing, cutting to sizes and polishing. Curing was done at room temperature for 24 hours followed by 4 hours of 80 degrees Celsius in an industrial oven. Methodology: Three main tests were used in the investigation of the composite properties. The tests were flexural, impact fracture toughness and DMA analysis. Each of these tests was adopted to determine different expects of the mechanical, physical and structural properties. Both flexural and Impact fracture toughness tests were carried out using MTS alliance provided by CEEFC. The properties investigate in this methods include flexural modulus, peak load, peakstress, deflection and strain at failure. Samples specimen for flexural and impact toughness were made of bar shape with dimensions of 64x15x10mm according MTS alliance specifications. DMA samples were smaller made according Q800 specifications of 35x12x4mm. DMA was used to determine thermal mechanical properties. The thermal properties determined were glass transition temperature (Tg), storage modulus, and tan delta. udResults and Conclusion: Results obtained for the samples for flexural revealed flexural modulus of up to 1880MPa for composite with sawdust and SLG in its composition. Composites samples with ELO have lower flexural modulus as compare to ones without ELO. The trend observed was that when more sawdust was added to the composite, storage, peak load, and flexural modulus increased up to a certain limit at which they drop. Addition of more sawdust was observed to lower deflections of composite bars. The result from various combinations of epoxy resin and waste material was compared to the one for the pure or neat epoxy resin. It was found that with addition of ELO, the physical, mechanical and structural properties were much lower compared with the neat epoxy resin propertiesud