Solid Particle Erosion of Unfilled and Filled Epoxy Resin at Room and Elevated Temperatures

The solid particle erosion at room and elevated temperatures of pure and filled hot-curing epoxy resin on anhydride hardener was experimentally tested using accelerated method on special bench. Micro-sized dispersed industrial wastes were used as fillers: fly-ash from a power plant and spent filling material from a copper mining and processing plant. The results showed that the unfilled resin wear significantly decreases with increasing temperature, while the dependence on the temperature of the wear intensity at an impingement angle of 45o is linear inversely proportional, and at an angle of 90o non-linear. The decrease in wear intensity is probably due to an increase in elasticity (an increase in the fracture strain limit) because of heating. Solid particle erosion of the examined filled epoxy compounds is considerably higher than that of unfilled compounds at impingement angles of 90o and 45o. Filled compounds showed ambiguous dependences of intensity of wear from temperature (especially at an angle of attack 45o), probably, character of dependence is defined by a filler share and the structural features of the samples caused by distribution of particles of the filler. Intensity of wear of the considered compounds at impingement angles 90o and 45o has high direct correlation with density and the modulus of elasticity (i.e., increases with their increase), and low correlation with bending strength of the considered materials. The data set for determining the correlation between mechanical properties and wear included characteristics due to both compound filling and test temperature.