ENHANCED POLYESTER REINFORCED CONCRETE COMPOSITE FOR TILES PRODUCTION

Abstract

This paper is aimed at assessing the influence of granite particle aggregate on the mechanical properties of polyester reinforced concrete composite for tiles production. It is noted that polymer concrete cures fast with high specific strength which makes it suitable for the production of thin oven layers, floors and precast components. The conventional hand lay-up method used for fabrication of thermoset polymer was used for the production of the concrete tiles. The results of the hardness and impact test were obtained using Vickers Hardness and Charpy Impact Machines and recorded in Tables 1and 2, respectively. For percentage filler content of samples 15, 25, 35, 45 and 55 %, the corresponding hardness of 8.5, 9.7, 11.6, 12.4 and 14.2 hv; and 0.3, 0.31, 0.45, 0.90 and 1.20 J of impact strength were obtained, respectively for sieve size of 100 μm. Similarly, the percentage filler contents of samples 15, 25, 35, 45 and 55 % had corresponding hardness values of 9.6, 10.5, 12.0, 13.7 and 15.0 hv; and 2.0, 0.8, 0.7, 0.5 and 0.4 J of impact strength were obtained, respectively for sieve size of 150 μm. These results revealed that there was a net increase in hardness with increasing aggregate content for the hardness and an increase in void fraction with increasing filler content. Keyword: Tile, impact test, hardness test, filler content, granite.