An experimental investigation on mode-I fracture toughness of mussel shell/epoxy particle reinforced composites

Abstract

This research covers investigation of mode-I fracture toughness of the recycled waste mussel shell particles reinforced epoxy composites. Vacuum assisted resin infusion molding (VARIM) method was applied to produce composites. The aim of the research is to use recycled waste shells to reduce production cost and to prevent environmental pollution. VARIM was applied to produce fiber reinforced composite. Therefore, as reinforcement particles mussel shell, and as particle reinforced composite production method VARIM are both two new points of the research. Mode-I fracture toughness experiments conducted according to ASTM D 5045 standards with single-edge-notch bending specimens for six repeats. According to mode-I tests, the fracture toughness of the mussel shell particle reinforced epoxy composites is 2.44 MPa∙m1/2. The failure region from one of the tested specimen was investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM) in the next section of the paper. After the test results are given by diagrams, they are discussed according to other particle-reinforced composites to show the new material place in the literature by means of fracture toughness.