Physical, Mechanical and Thermal Charact erization of Glass Micro - sphere filled Epoxy Composites

Abstract

In spite of significant research done in the field of particulate filled polymeric composites, reports on polymers filled with glass micro -spheres have been extremely rare. In view of this, the present work includes the processing and characterization of a new class of epoxy composites filled with different proportions of borosilicate glass micro - spheres(BGM).Hand lay - up technique is used for making these composites in a laboratory scale. Various physical and mechanical properties are evaluated under controlled laboratory conditions. It is found that while the tensile and flexural strength are marginally influenced, the impact strength is improved quite significantly . Besides, multifold enhancement in compositemicro - hardness is also noticed. The effective thermal conductivity is measured using Unitherm™ Model 2022 following ASTM - 1530 test stand ards. It is observed that with increase in the filler content there is appreciable drop in the conductivity of the composites leading to an improvement in their heat conduction capability