Estudio de las propiedades mecánicas de un material compuesto de fibra de vidrio y resina polimérica modificada con poliestireno expandido

Abstract

Currently, the search for new materials has promoted different investigations in order to obtain improvements in their properties. The materials compounds are macroscopic combinations of two or more different materials mixed in the same system. Some composite materials are found naturally available, like wood or bone, however the vast majority of the composite materials used today are designed and manufactured by man. These materials arise from the need to obtain improvements to the properties of each of the components separately, for example in the transport industry light, rigid materials resistant to impact, resistant to corrosion and wear, properties that are rarely seen Together, the first car to use composite materials for its structure was the Lotus Elite Colín Chapman in 1957, who used various GRP molds (glass reinforced plastic) glued together to make a monocoque of composite material. Before Of this, in the 1950s, the Ford Thunderbird and Chevrolet Corvette had used glass reinforced plastic (GRP) for part of the structure and components of the body, while Citroën used it for the roof panel on the DS. Of In the same way, with the current technology, it is possible to design fiber-reinforced composite materials, in order to obtain a high specific resistance and specific module, which correspond respectively, to the relationships between resistance and traction and weight specific and between the modulus of elasticity and the specific weight. Using materials of low density, both for the matrix and for the reinforcement, are manufactured reinforced compounds that have high specific modulus and resistance, such as This is the case of metals (W, Mo, Nb, etc.), which have a modulus of high elasticity, do not rust and have low density The present work contributes to this research area a study on the improvement fiberglass with the addition of expanded polyethylene (EPS) giving the original composite mechanical properties. This project was developed in 3 stages. which are made up of establishing the material manufacturing process made from fiberglass and EPS modified polymer resin, in a second stage it was established to build the test pieces that allowed evaluating the mechanical behavior of the different proportions of the composite material regarding those of the FV and finally a third stage that allowed to compare the performance of the mechanical properties of the composite material with respect to individual materials where two materials commonly used in industry such as fiberglass (FV) and expanded polystyrene (EPS) with in order to study a new composite material whose matrix was the PV and as material for reinforcement the expanded polystyrene was used. On the one hand, PV is a material made of extremely fine strands or fibers of woven or interwoven glass which They are joined by a resin that agglomerates them, this structure has proven to be very resistant while allowing it to be molded into different shapes, which is why They have numerous applications, from automobiles to insulation in the home. On the other hand, the EPS known in the country with the name of icopor for its manufacturer, Colombian Porous Industry, is a frequently used plastic for industrial development and packaging, it is characterized by being a material impact resistant which makes it ideal for this application is also a excellent thermal insulator so it is widely used in systems that require establishing a closed system, but this material has a time of degradation of approximately 1000 years, which makes it counterproductive for the environment is also an unattractive material for recycling processes Due to its low cost of production and high cost of collecting it. In order to characterize the composite material obtained from the mixture of the PV and the EPS, it was proposed to study a combination of these precursors, to evaluate the mechanical characteristics provided by EPS and compare them with those of PV without polymer. For this work, different samples were made, varying the concentrations of resin and EPS compound, seeking that the product present the stiffness of the PV, but at the same time the flexibility and resistance of EPS. East project was also developed in order to offer an alternative to the provision end of EPS, which is a major pollutant that affects ecosystems.