Comparison of mechanical properties of the Zro2 and TiO2 filler epoxy composite

International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395 -0056
Volume: 04 Issue: 01 | Jan -2017 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072
© 2017, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 5.181 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 1086
Comparison of mechanical properties of the Zro2 and TiO2 filler epoxy
composite
P.Sneha Latha1, M.Venkateswara Rao2,
1 PhD Scholar, Mechanical EnggDepartment, Acharya Nagarjuna University College Of Engg And Technology,
Andhara pradesh, INDIA
2 Professor, Mechanical EnggDepartment, BapatlaEngg College, Bapatla, Andhara pradesh, INDIA
---------------------------------------------------------------------***---------------------------------------------------------------------
Abstract - Effect of TiO2 and ZrO2 filler on mechanical
properties of the epoxy polymer has been investigated
experimentally. TiO2 and ZrO2 filler epoxy composites are
fabricated by hand layup technique in a moldandcured under
light pressure at room temperature for 48 hour indivisibly.
Specimen preparation and testing was carried out as per
ASTM standards. The results indicated thattheduetothefiller
addition the mechanical properties of the epoxy composites is
enhances the best resistance observed in the ZrO2 filler
composites. The strength variation is observed in the trend of
plain>petrel>diesel>mineral>saline in Both tensile and
flexural.
Key Words: ZrO2, tensile, TiO2, Epoxy.
1.INTRODUCTION
Environmental awareness todaymotivatingtheresearcher’s
world-wide on the studies of natural fiber reinforced
polymer composite. This is because natural fibers have the
potential of serving as alternative for artificial fiber
composite [1-4].
Increase of environmental awareness has led to a growing
interest in researching ways of an effective utilizationofrice
by-product, from whichricehusk isparticularlyvaluabledue
to its high content of amorphous silica and amorphous
carbon as the main constituents. [5, 6].Compares to the
conventional sources of silica rice husk ash as a ceramic raw
material possess advantages like fine particles size and
higher reactivity due to its amorphous nature.
Therearemanyapplicationsofnaturalfibre
composites in everyday life. Howeverthemaindisadvantage
of natural fibre is their hydrophilic nature. They also have a
poor environmental and dimensional stability that prevent
wider use of natural fibre composites. The possibility of
using these materials in outdoor applications makes it
necessary to analyze their mechanical behaviour under the
influence of different weathering conditions such as
humidity, saline water, sunlight or micro-organisms. The
moisture absorption by compositescontainingnatural fibres
has several adverse effects on their properties and thus
affects their long-term performance
Sreekumar et al. [7], while studying water absorption
characteristics of sisal fiber polyester compositesfoundthat
diffusion coefficient decreases with chemical treatment of
fiber. In addition to this the chemical treatment also
decreases water absorption capacity of the composite. They
also showed that the composite with benzoyl-chloride
treated sisal fiber composite exhibited lower water
absorption capacity.
Agrawal et al. [8] performed a saline
chemical treatment on oil palm fibers. Silane (siH4) used as
coupling agent which modified the interaction between the
fiber and the matrix and also increases the tensile strength.
Joseph et al. [9] performed a Benzoylationtreatmentonsisal
fibers. They treated the sisal fibers with NAOH and benzoyl
chloride (C6H5COCl) solution and observed that treated
fibers have reduced hydrophilic nature and increases
interaction with the matrix.
For potential application of filler polymer composites a
comprehensive study on the moisture absorption
characteristic and its effect on mechanical properties are
required. In this chapter, the characteristics of moisture
weight gain and effect of moisture absorptiononmechanical
properties of both TiO2 and ZrO2 epoxy composite under
different environments (mineral water, Saline water, Petrol
and Sub-zero temperature) are investigated.
1.1 Sub Heading 1
Before you begin to format your paper, first write and
save the content as a separate text file. Keep your text and
graphic files separate until after the text has been formatted
and styled. Do not use hard tabs, and limituseofhardreturns
to only one return at the end of a paragraph. Do not add any
kind of pagination anywhereinthepaper.Donotnumbertext
heads-the template will do that for you.
Finally, complete content and organizational editing
before formatting. Please take note of the following items
when proofreading spelling and grammar:

1.2 Sub Heading 2
Sample paragraph, The entire document should be in
cambria font. Type 3 fonts must not be used. Other font
types may be used if needed for special purposes. The entire
document should be in cambria font. Type 3 fonts must not
be used. Other font types may be used if needed for special
purposes.
2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1 Raw materials used
For preparation of composite the following
materials have been used;
1. Epoxy
2. Hardener
3. TiO2 powder
4. ZrO2 powder.
2.2 TiO2 powder
Titanium dioxide (TiO2 ) is a white strong inorganic
substance that is thermally stable, non-combustible,
ineffectively solvent, furthermore, not delegated perilous
concurring to the UnitedNations'(UN) Globally FitSystemof
Classificationfurthermore,LabelingofChemicals(GHS).TiO2,
the oxide of the metal titanium, happens actually in a few
sorts of rock furthermore, mineral sands. Titanium is the
ninth most normal component in the world's outside. TiO2 is
commonly considered as being synthetically dormant.
Fig-1: TiO2 powder
2.1.3 ZrO2 powder
Zirconia, for the most part comprising of ZrO2, has
the most elevated mechanical qualityandbreak durability at
room temperature of all significant fine ceramic production.
It is utilized to make cuttingsharpedges,scissorsandblades.
It is additionally utilized for pump parts because of its
unrivaled surface smoothness.
Fig. 2 ZrO2 powder
2.2 Composite Fabrication
The hand lay-up technique was used for preparation
of the samples. A wooden mold of dimension (190x270x6)
mm was used for casting the compositesheet.Amoldrelease
spray was applied at the inner surface of the mold for quick
and easy release of the composite sheet. Fordifferent weight
fraction of fibers, a calculated amount of epoxy resin and
hardener (ratio of 10:1 by weight) was thoroughly mixed in
a glass jar and placed in a vacuum chamber to remove air
bubbles that got introduced. Then calculated amountofTiO2
and ZrO2 is added separately with a weight percentage of 2,
4, 6, 8, 10wt% to the mixture of epoxy resin and hardener.
Then the composite mixture is poured in to the mold. Care
has been taken to avoid formation of air bubbles. Pressure
was then applied from the top and the mold was allowed to
cure at room temperature for 72 hrs. During application of
pressure some amount of epoxy and hardener squeezes out.
Adequate care has been taken to consider this loss during
manufacturing so that a constant thickness of sample can be
maintained. This procedure was adopted for preparation of
15 weight percentage of fiber reinforced epoxy composite
slabs. After 72 hrs the samples were takenoutfromthemold
and then cut in to required sizes as per ASTM standards for
different test.
(a)

(b)
Fig- 3 (a) Wooden mold (b) Composite samples
2.3 Study of Environmental Effect
The performancesofZrO2 compositeandTiO2 epoxy
composite under different environmental conditions are
essential to study. Therefore effect of environment on
performance of titanium dioxide and zirconium dioxide
epoxy composite samples were subjected to following
environments:
 Mineral water exposures.
 Saline water exposures
 Petrol exposures
 Diesel exposures
2.3.1 Moisture absorption and swelling thickness
tests
These tests are used to investigate the effect of
moisture absorption and swelling thickness on l fibre
reinforced composites. The aim of this test is to compare the
influence of both fibre reinforcement and water uptake on
mechanical properties of fibre reinforcement composites
and the related kinetics and characteristics of the water
absorption and swelling thickness. There are different
mechanisms to moisture diffusion in polymeric composites.
The first mechanism having capillary transportintothegaps
and flows at the interfaces between fibreandthematrix.The
second mechanism having transport of micro cracks in the
matrix arising from the swelling of fibres. And the third
mechanism having diffusion of water molecules inside the
micro gaps between polymer chains. In this test, firstly the
samples were dried in an oven for 24 h at 103±2oC .The
samples were immersed in boilingdeionizedwaterforgiven
time period (up to 30 min) after that removed from the
boiling water and cooled in de-ionized water for 15min at
room temperature. The samples are exposure at different
time intervals until the water content in samples reached up
to saturation and measured the weight and thickness of the
samples. By using weight and thickness difference of the
samples, themoistureabsorptionandswellingthickness was
calculated. The percentage weight and thickness gain of the
samples was measured at different time intervals and the
moisture content and swelling thickness versus square root
of time was plotted. Moisture absorption and
thickness swelling was calculated by usingfollowing
equations,
(5)
(6)
Where , and indicate the oven-dryweight
and thickness swelling and weight and thickness swelling
after ‘t’ time.
2.3.2 Tensile and flexural testing
Specimens for tension and flexural tests were carefully
cut from the laminate using diamondwheel sawandfinished
to the accurate size using emery paper. The standard test
method as per ASTM D 3039-76 and ASTM D790 has been
used; length of the test specimenis140mm.Specimens were
loaded in three point bending with a recommended span to
depth ratio of 16:1. The span of 70mm and a cross-head
speed used for the flexural tests (three point bending) was
5mm/min. The tensile test and flexural are performed in
universal testing machine INSTRON H10KS.The tension test
is generally performed on flat specimens. The most
commonly used specimen geometries are the dog-bone
specimen and straight-sided specimen with end tabs. At the
rate of loading, 0.5mm/min was used for testing. For each
stacking sequence, five identical specimens were tested and
the average result is obtained.
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Figure 4.-8 shows the comparison of tensile strength of the
ZrO2 and TiO2 filler composites after exposed to different
environments(Mineral ,Saline water, petrol and diesel). The
tensile strength of the ZrO2 filler composites is more when
compared to the TiO2 filler composites. The degradation of
strength is observed in the composite exposed to different
environments. It is also clearly observed that the maximum
strength is observed in the 6wt% filler in both the ZrO2 and
TiO2 filler composites. The strength of the composites
increase as the filler addition increases up to 6wt% and
starts degrading beyond 6wt% this may be due to the excess
filler addition and which leads to poor bonding in the fillers.

Fig-4 Tensile strength of ZrO2 and TiO2 composites after
exposed to Diesel
Fig-5 Tensile strength of ZrO2 and TiO2 composites
exposed to Saline water
exposed to Mineral water
Fig- 8 Tensile strength of ZrO2 and TiO2 composites after
exposed to petrol
Figure 9-13 shows the comparison of flexural strengthof the
ZrO2 and TiO2 filler composites after exposed to different
environments (Mineral, Saline water, petrol and diesel). The
flexural strength of the ZrO2 filler composites is more when
compared to the TiO2 filler composites. As the filler addition
increase the flexural strength of the compositesincreasesup
to 8wt% and starts degrading beyond the 8wt%. After
exposing to different environmentsthestrengthdegradation
is observed as observed in tensile strength.

Fig-9 Flexural strength of ZrO2 and TiO2 composites after
exposed to Petrol
Fig-10 Flexural strength of ZrO2 and TiO2 composites
Fig-11 Flexural strength of ZrO2 and TiO2 composites after
exposed to Saline water
Fig. 12 Flexural strength of ZrO2 and TiO2 composites after
exposed to Mineral water
Fig. 13 Flexural strength of ZrO2 and TiO2 composites after
exposed to Diesel
4 CONCLUSIONS
Based on experimental results, this study has led to the
following conclusions:
 The TiO2 and ZrO2 can successfully be used as
reinforcing agent to fabricate composite bysuitably
bonding with epoxy resin.
 On increasing the volume fraction of filler the
strength, modulus increases and the best
combination is found with 6% wt. fractionintensile
strength and 8wt% filler in flexural strength.
 By incorporation of TiO2 and ZrO2 fillers into
polymer mechanical properties are improved to
great extent.
 The strength variation is observed in the trend of
plain>petrel>diesel>mineral>saline in Both tensile
and flexural.

REFERENCES
[1] A.K. Bledzki, J. Gassan. Progress in Polymer Science-24.
(1999), pp 221–274
[2] G. Pritchard “Plast Addit” , Compd (2004), 6:18–21.
[3] K. G. Satyanarayana, A. G. Kulkarni, and P. K Rohatgi, J.
Scientific & Industrial
[4] G. Bogoeva-Gaceva, M. Avella, M. Malinconico, A.
Buzarovska,A. Grozdanov, G. Gentile, M.E. Errico.
“Polymer Composites”,WileyInterScience.Research,40
(2007) pp 222-37.
[5] W.Shigetaka, M.Weerasak & H.Zhemchai, “Survey of the
Research on the utilization of Rice Husk and Rice Husk
Silica,” Proc. 1st workshop on the utilization of Rice
Husk and Rice Husk Silica, (2005), pp 6-14.
[6] T.Yamaguchi, T.Sekiguchi, H.Toyoshima, E.Kohira,
S.H.Shikano & K.Hokkirigawa, “Friction and wear
properties of new hard porous carbon materials made
from Rice Chaff,” Proc.3rd Asia Int. Conf. Trib., (2006),
pp 379-380
[7] Sreekumar, P. A., Thomas, S. P., marc Saiter, J., Joseph,K.,
Unnikrishnan, G., & Thomas, S. (2009). Effect of fiber
surface modification on the mechanical and water
absorption characteristicsof sisal/polyestercomposites
fabricated by resin transfer molding.CompositesPartA:
Applied Science and Manufacturing,40(11),1777-1784.
[8] Agrawal R, Saxena NS, Sharma KB, Thomas S, Sreekala
MS, Mater Sci Eng, 2000 A 277:77.
[9] Joseph K, Mattoso LHC, Toledo RD, Thomas S, de
Carvalho LH, Pothen L, Kala S, James B. “Natural
polymers and agrofibers composites”. Embrapa, USP-
IQSC, UNESP, Brazil. 2000.Kornack and P. Rakic, “Cell
Proliferation without Neurogenesis in Adult Primate
Neocortex,” Science, vol. 294, Dec. 2001, pp. 2127-2130,
doi:10.1126/science.1065467.
BIOGRAPHIES
PhD Scholar, Mechanical Engg
Department, Acharya Nagarjuna
Engg College, Andhara pradesh,
INDIA
Professor, Mechanical Engg
Department, Bapatla Engg College,
Bapatla, Andhara pradesh, INDIA
hor
Photo

Comparison of mechanical properties of the Zro2 and TiO2 filler epoxy composite

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Similar to Comparison of mechanical properties of the Zro2 and TiO2 filler epoxy composite (20)

More from IRJET Journal (20)

Recently uploaded (20)

Comparison of mechanical properties of the Zro2 and TiO2 filler epoxy composite