Investigate the best percentage by weight of glass powder, as fillers in phenolic resins using tensile tests

This project is based upon investigating the best percentage by weight of glass powder in phenolic resins by testing the mechanical properties of the composite material using tensile testing. In today's society cost is always an issue and for the need to reduce the costs. For this reason theory's are being developed and tested within this report. Glass powder will be used as filler material in the phenolic resin at varying percentages by weight to identify if the mechanical properties increase with the composite as well as being a cheaper alternative than the neat phenolic resin. Phenolic Formaldehyde thermosetting resin was mixed with and acidic catalyst at ratios from 30:1 up to ratio of 12:1, as well as adding glass powder by weight as filler. Once initial curing has occurred the specimens were subjected to post-curing in a conventional oven where they were baked at 3 different temperatures for a set amount of time. In addition, tensile testing was preformed on the post-cured specimens to test for the yield, tensile and young's modulus of each specimen. This will then allow for an analysis to be conducted, identifying what the effects the glass powder has on the phenol formaldehyde matrix composite. In addition, stereo microscope was used to identify at higher magnification what the surface of the composite look like as well having a closer look at how much porosity had produced. Furthermore identify if the glass powder was able to blend in with the phenolic resin to enable higher mechanical properties than the neat phenolic resin