5th INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON KHAZAR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND INNOVATION
EFFECT OF Al2O3 FILLER CONTENT ON MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF NOVOLAC MATRIX COMPOSITES
Polymer composites reinforced with ceramic particles are of significant importance in engineering applications due to their superior mechanical properties, including high strength and hardness properties. In this study, the mechanical properties of Al2O3 reinforced polymer composites were investigated. Al2O3 microparticles were incorporated as reinforcement into a novolac resin matrix and composite samples were prepared with 10 wt%, 20 wt% and 30 wt%. To ensure uniform particle dispersion, the composite mixtures containing varying amounts of Al2O3 were mechanically mixed for 15 minutes, then molded under a pressing temperature of 200°C, a pressing time of 45 minutes, and a pressing pressure of 200 MPa. The experimentsl results revealed that composites containing 20 wt% Al2O3 exhibited the best mechanical performance. At this reinforcement ratio, the Shore D hardness and tensile strength reached maximum values of 73.4 and 25.6 MPa, respectively. However, when the Al2O3 content was increased to 30 wt%, both hardness and tensile strength showed a decline. This suggests that excessive ceramic particle content negatively affects the overall composite performance, possibly due to particle agglomeration or increased brittleness. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis after the tensile test showed that the Al2O3 particles were homogeneously dispersed in the novolac polymer matrix in composite samples with 20 wt% Al2O3 content.
