Elastic And Mechanical Properties Of Expanded Perlite And Perlite/Epoxy Foams Haleh Allameh Haery MIEngDes (UPM) This thesis is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Mechanical Engineering) University of Newcastle, Australia Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment School of Engineering February 2017 Statement of Originality This is to certify that the thesis entitled “Elastic and Mechanical Properties of Expanded perlite and Perlite/Epoxy foams” submitted by Miss. Haleh Allameh Haery contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text. I give consent to this copy of my thesis when deposited in the University Library, being made available for loan and photocopying subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. Haleh Allameh Haery Statement of Collaboration I hereby certify that the work embodied in this thesis has been done in collaboration with other researchers. I have included as part of the thesis a statement clearly outlining the extent of collaboration, with whom and under what auspices. Statement of Authorship I hereby certify that the work embodied in this thesis contains published papers of which I am a joint author. I have included as part of the thesis a written statement, endorsed by my supervisor, attesting to my contribution to the joint publications. Haleh Allameh Haery Dedication I dedicate this thesis to my parents, who have always loved and supported me unconditionally. Acknowledgments I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisors, Professor Erich Kisi and Doctor Thomas Fiedler, for their help and support throughout my period of PhD study. I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to my supervisor Erich, whose patience, kind words, complete support and professional advice have been a source of encouragement and a motivation to explore my ideas to their fullest depth. I would also like to thank Doctor Jubert Pineda for his mentorship and constructive advice which has helped me enormously. I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to the University of Newcastle for granting me IPRS and Postgraduate Research scholarships during the four years of my study. I would also like to gratefully acknowledge the assistance from the staff in the electron microscope and X-ray unit at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Last, not the least, I want to thank my parents for their love, support and words of encouragement throughout studies. List of Publications and Awards Awards 1. 2016 Three Minutes Thesis Finalist (Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment); (University of Newcastle, Australia). 2. Runner Up - 2016 Three Minutes Thesis Faculty competition (Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment); (University of Newcastle, Australia). 3. Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment 2015 postgraduate research prize, Mechanical Engineering (University of Newcastle, Australia). 4. Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment 2014 postgraduate research prize, Mechanical Engineering (University of Newcastle, Australia). 5. Runner Up - 2015 Three Minutes Thesis Faculty competition (Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment); (University of Newcastle, Australia). 6. 2015 Three Minutes Thesis Finalist (Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment); (University of Newcastle, Australia). Conference (Poster) Haleh Allameh-Haery, Erich Kisi, Thomas Fiedler, “Characterization of perlite-epoxy foam cores for sandwich panels”, International Conference on Advances in Functional Materials", 29 June-3 July, 2015, Long Island, NY, USA. Conference Papers H. A. Haery, and H. S. Kim, "Damage of hybrid composite laminates." SPIE Proceedings, Volume 8793, Aerospace Composites, 87931F-87931F-13 (2013) Journal Papers 1. H. Allameh Haery, H. S. Kim, R. Zahari, E. Amini, Tensile strength of notched carbon/glass/epoxy hybrid composite laminates before and after fatigue loading. Journal of Industrial Textiles, 2014, 44(2): p. 307 – 331. 2. H. Allameh Haery, and H. S. Kim, Damage in hybrid composite laminates. Journal of Multifunctional Composites, 2013, 1(2): p.127-137. 3. H. Allameh Haery, E. Kisi, and T. Fiedler, Novel cellular perlite-epoxy foams: effect of density on mechanical properties. Journal of Cellular Plastics, Doi: 10.1177/0021955x16652110, 2016. 4. H. Allameh-Haery, C.M. Wensrich, T. Fiedler, and E. Kisi, Novel Cellular perlite-epoxy foams: effects of particle size. Journal of Cellular Plastics, Doi: 10.1177/0021955X16670528, 2016. 5. H. Allameh-Haerya, E. Kisi, J. Pineda, L. P. Suwal, T. Fiedler, Characterization and prediction of Elastic properties of green compacts of Expanded perlite particles. Journal of Powder Technology, 25 January 2017. 6. H. Allameh-Haery, E. Kisi, J. Pineda, L. P. Suwal, T. Fiedler, Elastic properties of perlite-epoxy foams. (Under review). Table of Contents Statement of Originality .................................................................................................... 2 Statement of Collaboration ............................................................................................... 3 Statement of Authorship ................................................................................................... 4 Dedication ......................................................................................................................... 5 Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................. 6 List of Publications and Awards ....................................................................................... 7 Conference (Poster) ........................................................................................................... 7 Conference Papers ............................................................................................................. 8 Table of Contents .............................................................................................................. 9 List of Figures ................................................................................................................. 13 List of Tables................................................................................................................... 20 List of Symbols and Abbreviations .................................................................................... I Abstract ............................................................................................................................. 1 1 Chapter One: Introduction......................................................................................... 4 2 Chapter Two: Literature Review ............................................................................... 9 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 9 The characteristics, manufacturing processes and applications of Perlite ....... 10 2.2.1 Introduction to perlite ................................................................................ 10 2.2.2 Expansion process ..................................................................................... 12 2.2.3 The physical properties of perlite .............................................................. 16 2.2.4 Chemical composition ............................................................................... 19 2.2.5 Applications .............................................................................................. 24 2.2.6 Concluding Remarks ................................................................................. 41 Foams ............................................................................................................... 42 2.3.1 Introduction to foams and syntactic foams ............................................... 42 2.3.2 Manufacturing syntactic foams ................................................................. 46 2.3.3 Particulate composites containing naturally occurring fillers ................... 50 Motivation and Problem Statement .................................................................. 59 Research Objectives and Research Significance .............................................. 60 3 Chapter Three: Methodology .................................................................................. 61 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 61 Material ............................................................................................................ 62 3.2.1 Expanded perlite particles ......................................................................... 62 3.2.2 Epoxy resin ............................................................................................... 63 Sample preparation ........................................................................................... 64 3.3.1 Preparation of expanded perlite (EP) particle samples ............................. 64 3.3.2 Preparation of solid perlite samples .......................................................... 67 3.3.3 Preparation of resin samples ..................................................................... 67 3.3.4 Preparation of EP/epoxy foam samples ...................................................