Experimental and numerical analysis of microstructure damage in silica filled epoxy

Autor: Robert Platek, Łukasz Malinowski, Robert Sekula, Piotr Zwoliński
Rok vydání: 2016
Předmět:
Zdroj: Procedia Structural Integrity. 2:285-292
ISSN: 2452-3216
DOI: 10.1016/j.prostr.2016.06.037
Popis: The epoxy resin-based systems with silica filler are widely used in many products like medium and high voltage electrical components due to its very good dielectric and mechanical properties. Such products require to operate in harsh environments which may activate the process of formation and propagation of the cracks within the resin material. The cracking phenomenon contributes also to manufacturing problems. The epoxy based parts are very often produced by casting during which (post)curing cracking may appear. In order to better understand the cracking phenomena of epoxy resin there is a need to investigate microstructural damage. The work presented in this paper includes both experimental and numerical analysis of microstructure crack initiation and propagation in silica filled epoxy. Basic information about epoxy resin-based systems and its applications are presented. Next, basics of the fracture mechanics with description of available numerical approaches are described. The numerical simulations were prepared for Representative Volume Element (RVE) which was obtained using home-made tool for image digitalization. Experimental analysis consist of in-situ tensile tests and microstructural observations with Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). At the end a summary with conclusions related with prepared numerical analysis and experiments is included. The presented research of the damage of silica/epoxy composite confirms that analysis of the epoxy resin microstructural damage is not trivial and further study is required for its better understanding.
Databáze: OpenAIRE