Mechanical, thermal and dielectric behaviour of C-class fly-ash coarse and fine particles reinforced epoxy resin composite

In this research, an epoxy composite material was prepared with C-class fly-ash particles to improve the mechanical, thermal and dielectric properties. The objective of this work was to implement cost-free industrial waste fly-ash fillers, as an instrumental reinforcement, to improve thermo-mechanical and dielectric properties of pure epoxy resin. The addition of the particle increased the mechanical and thermal properties at the same time, reduced the prime insulation property of thermoset resin. The particulate composite was prepared by the gravity casting method by using two different sizes of fly-ash particles of 1 wt%, 3 wt% and 5 wt%. The mechanical properties revealed that the addition of a large quantity of (5 wt%) fly-ash particle reduced the tensile strength of the composite, but increased the impact toughness. The fine fly-ash reinforced epoxy composite shows improved tensile, flexural and impact properties compared to coarse fly-ash particle epoxy composite. Similarly, the addition of fly-ash particle increased the glass transition temperature as well as the degradation stability of epoxy resin. The dielectric results revealed that fly-ash addition into epoxy increased the relative permittivity (dielectric constant) and loss. Scanning electron microscope results exposed that the particles were clustered in the reacted phase of the epoxy matrix due to the affinity between particle and resin.