Obtaining Diatomite Reinforced Epoxy Composite and Determination of Its Thermophysical Properties

Abstract

In this research, a composite material was produced by adding diatomite soil to epoxy resin. The particle size of the diatomite used is in the range of 297 to 149 microns. It was dried at 378 K before being used as a filling material. By adding 0 kg, 0.001 kg, 0.002 kg, 0.004 kg, and 0.006 kg of diatomite to the epoxy matrix, the composite was produced under atmospheric conditions. To obtain a homogeneous structure, certain amounts of Epoxy A component and diatomite were mixed first. A selected amount of epoxy component B was then added to the mixture. After one day of curing in the laboratory, necessary tests and analyses were carried out. The surface morphology of the produced composite was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). As a result of the analyses and tests, it was seen that the increase in the amount of diatomite increased the porosity in the composite. In addition, it was observed that the density decreased, and the thermal conductivity coefficient varied between 0.110 W /m.K and 0.095 W /m.K It was observed that the hardness was linearly in the range of 77-80 shore D. It has been determined that the addition of diatomite tends to increase the activation energy by modeling the thermal degradation experiments performed in the PID controlled system in nitrogen environment between 300 K and 900 K. Activation energy values are calculated according to the one-dimensional diffusion function with the highest correlation coefficient (R2) according to Coats-Redfern method when the temperature rise is 10 K/min, and the conversion rate (α) is between 0.15 and 0.85.