International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056 Volume: 05 Issue: 10 | Oct 2018 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072 © 2018, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 7.211 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 1538 Comparative Study on Axial Loading Conditions and Effect of Mineral Filler on CSM and WF Fibres Lokesh K S 1 , Dr. Thomas Pinto 2 1 Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering & Faculty of Nano Technology, Srinivas Institute of Technology, Karnataka, India 2 Professor & Head, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Srinivas Institute of Technology, Karnataka, India -------------------------------------------------------------------------***------------------------------------------------------------------------ Abstract - Study on mineral fillers swept huge attention now a days by being the fractional part of the composite materials to fulfil the potential aspects of industries. In this work two different categories of E-glass fibres namely woven fabric and chopped strand mats are used as a reinforcing materials and epoxy resin constitutes matrix system. Several studies proved that the strength of GFRP composites progressively increased with adding fillers. Keeping this in mind the present work highlights the utilization of mineral filler called calcium ino silicate powder having the composition of CaSio3 as a filler material. By employing hand layup technique samples have been prepared from both woven and chopped type and tensile test is conducted as per ASTM standards and corresponding results are tabulated and recorded. The present work also highlights the comparison of tensile strength for both woven and chopped laminates. It is observed that use of mineral filler influences greatly on tensile properties of polymer matrix composite and it is also cleared that woven laminates shows greater resistance to axial loading as compared to chopped strand mats. Keywords: Mineral fillers, axial loading, lightweight materials. I. INTRODUCTION Composites are made of two or more materials combined in the macro scale to get the integrated properties of individual materials. Composite materials are formed from two or more materials producing properties that could not be obtained from any one material. One of the constituent materials acts as the matrix and at least one other constituent material act as the reinforcement in the composites. Composite materials emerge as a promising alternative to correct the deficiencies caused by steel reinforcement in concrete structures [1-5]. Composite materials have replaced metals in various engineering applications owing to their numerous advantages, like high strength/weight ratio, low cost, low density, better stealth properties, etc[6-7]. Due to these advantages, there is an increasing demand for use of these materials in defines applications like naval ships, warplanes, armor vehicles and re-entry vehicles. In addition to this composites find their applications in automotive and aerospace industries such as bushes, gears, seals, cams, shafts etc. The most common types of reinforcement used in polymeric matrix composites (PMC) are strong and brittle fibres incorporated into a soft and ductile polymeric matrix. In this case, PMC are referred to as fibre reinforced plastics (FRP’s)[8].Composites in civil engineering applications have been steadily increasing. This is primarily due to the ever-increasing demand for materials, which are characterized by high strength-to-weight and stiffness-to-weight ratios at an effective installed or life cycle cost [9]. The advantageous properties of fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) includes, high strength-to-weight ratio, and corrosion and fatigue resistance create an interest in engineers; the most economical choice depends on the cost of material, production cost, life cycle cost, and material properties. Weight savings and performance, naturally, play a major factor in the choice of materials [10]. A combination of good mechanical properties and relatively low cost makes glass fibre attractive choice for the marine structures. The glass fabric chosen was woven roving E-glass supplied by Fibre Glass Industries’ (FGI) and designated as per FGI 1854 and glass fibres had Super 317 sizing for ease of handling, fast wet out, and compatibility with a number of resins including vinyl ester [11]. The glass fibres reduce the quantity of water absorbable material and thus, the water sorption of FRC should be less compared to that of the matrix polymer. In- plane shear properties of both carbon and glass fibre composites were comparable and inter laminar shear properties of E-glass composites were observed to be better than the carbon composite because of the better nesting between the E-glass fabric layers. II. FABRICATION OF SPECIMENS Reinforcing material used in this present study is glass fiber with density of 360GSM and chopped strand mat fibre of having 200GSM along with epoxy resin (araldite GY250) and hardner (teta), mineral powder of 80 microns size as a filler material. Glass fiber is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass. It is most commonly used as reinforcement material because of is exceptional properties. Although not as strong or as rigid as carbon fiber, it is much cheaper and significantly less brittle. Here type of glass fibre used is E-glass, the main compositions of E-glass (electrically conductors) are the oxides of silica, aluminium and calcium [12]. The glass fiber is also called as calcium alumino borosilicate glass. Epoxy is the cured end product of epoxy resins, as well as a colloquial name for the epoxide functional group. Epoxy resin is relatively low molecular weight pre polymers capable of being processed under a variety of conditions. In this work a fine powder of calcium ino silicate mineral called wollastonite is used as a filler material. Filler sample collected is as shown in Fig.1.