Processing and Property Evaluation of Iron Oxide Powder Reinforced Polymer Composite

Abstract

Composites are the materials consisting of two or more chemically dissimilar constituents, on a macro-scale, having a distinct interface separating them. The discontinuous phase is usually is called as reinforcement, whereas the continuous phase is termed as the matrix. Various kinds of polymers and polymer matrix composites reinforced with metal particles have a large variety of engineering applications such as electrodes, heaters, with thermal toughness at high temperature, etc. The addition of inorganic fillers into polymers for profitable applications is primarily intended at the cost reduction and stiffness improvement. In the present study, an attempt has been taken to fabricate iron oxide powder reinforced epoxy matrix composite and evaluate its properties for different possible applications. Ten number of samples with different Fe2O3 and epoxy composition viz. 1:9, 2:8, and 3:7, were prepared. The samples were also dipped in sea water to study the moisture absorption and other properties. The hardness study is performed by Vickers hardness tester (LECOLM 248AT). The compressive strength of all the cylindrical samples was evaluated with INSTRON 1195. The density was measured; the wear behavior was evaluated by a pin on disc wear testing machine (DUCOM). The dielectric behavior of the composites is also studied.