Mechanical Properties of Hollow Glass Bead-filled ABS Composites

Abstract

In this article, three types of hollow glass beads (HGB1, HGB2, and HGB3) with different sizes and distribution are used as fillers. HGB1 has a small mean particle diameter and wide distribution, HGB2 has a large diameter and medium distribution, and HGB3 has a medium diameter and narrow distribution. The tensile, notched Charpy impact and flexural properties of HGB-filled acrylnitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (ABS) composites are measured at room temperature. It has been found that the Young’s modulus increases linearly with increasing volume fraction φf of the fillers. The tensile yield stress and tensile stress at break decrease gently with the increase of φf. For ABS/HGB2 system, the tensile fracture strength energy (Etb) is obviously lower than that of the unfilled ABS. For ABS/HGB1 system, the Etb values are somewhat lower than that of the unfilled ABS. While for ABS/HGB3 system, the Etb values are slightly higher than that of the unfilled ABS. The notched Charpy impact strength decreases quickly at φf≤ 5%, and then decreases gently with increasing (φf). On the other hand, the flexural strength increases at φf≤ 5%, and then it decreases with increasing φf. In general, the effects of filler size and its distribution on these mechanical properties are not significant.