Papers by Keyword: SLG

Abstract: A commercial phenol formaldehyde based resole thermosetting resin supplied by Borden Chemical Australia Pty. was filled with ceramic-based fillers (Envirospheres or SLG) to increase its flexural strength. By performing flexural tests at a range of filler addition levels, the optimal addition level of SLG was able to be determined in terms of workability, cost and performance. The composites obtained were post-cured in conventional oven and in microwaves respectively. It was found that the maximum flexural strength of the microwave cured composites were only 5% lower than those cured in conventional oven when the percentage by weight of SLG was 24%. However, the time required for post-curing was also reduced from 10 hours (in conventional oven) to 40 minutes (in microwaves).

Abstract: The fracture toughness of SLG filled phenolic composites have been determined by short bar tests. It is expensive to prepare the samples for the tests. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a mathematical model that will predict the fracture toughness of particulate filled phenolic composites. Mathematical models for tensile strength, Young’s modulus are available but not for impact strength and fracture toughness. There is no sign that it can be built up from simple mathematical model; polynomial interpolation using Lagrange’s method was therefore employed to generate the fracture toughness model using the data obtained from experiments. From experiments, it was found that the trend of the fracture toughness of the samples cured conventionally was similar to that cured in microwaves; it is therefore possible to predict the fracture toughness of the samples cured in microwaves from shifting the mathematical model generated for fracture toughness of samples post-cured in conventional oven. The shifted model represented the fracture toughness of the samples cured in microwaves vey well.