A design of experiment study to investigate the effects of hardener concentration, stirring time, and air bubbles on the tensile strength of epoxy resin
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Sritharan R, Askari D. A design of experiment study to investigate the effects of hardener concentration, stirring time, and air bubbles on the tensile strength of epoxy resin. Journal of Elastomers & Plastics. 2022;0(0). doi:10.1177/00952443221131197
Abstract
Epoxy is one of the widely used polymeric resin systems in composite industries, which is a two-part resin system that requires the mixing of a hardening agent to trigger the polymerization process. The mixing ratio and pot-life are usually specified and provided by the manufacturer; however, the stirring time and the details of the mixing process were left to the fabricator to configure, based on some visual observations, which may vary from person to person. Although the mixing ratio is fixed by the resin manufacturer, errors may occur during the weighing and transfer of resin parts. The hardener concentration and stirring time are two of the most important factors that can affect the resin properties. In addition, air bubbles can be formed during the stirring process, which is inevitable. Design of experiment (DOE) is one of the widely used tools to design, control, and study the effects of multiple factors. In this research, DOE with a factorial design of 2