SYNTHESIS AND PROPERTIES OF EPOXY RESIN-BASED POLYMERIC COMPOSITE MATERIALS

In the article presents the results on the creation of polymer composite materials based on epoxy resin, tetraethylenetetramine and plasticizer with the specified hardness values of the material, which are used in the implementation of the technological process of fitting the ribs of parts as jaws of the mounting machine. All chemicals and fiberglass employed in this work are domestically produced. The optimal ratios of the components of polymer composite material have been found by the mathematical planning of the experiment. The experiment plan matrix was compiled using the Statistica software package, composed three-level included 9 experiments and 3 repeated measurements. The order of the experiments was randomized to exclude systematic biases that can affect correctness of the results. The effect of factors was evaluated using analysis of variance (ANOVA) at a statistical significance level of 0.95. Significant predictors were the amount of hardener "H", the content of plasticizer "Pl", the product "H.Pl", the square of hardener "H-2" amount and the product "Pl(2).H". An increase in the amount of hardener leads to an increase in hardness, an increase in the function is provided by both a linear and a quadratic component. An increase in the amount of plasticizer leads to a decrease in the hardness of the material. The "H.Pl" regressor decreases the hardness value, and the "Pl(2).H" regressor increases its value. The hardness response surface of the composite material has a maximum at 20% hardener and in the absence of a plasticizer, the minimum hardness corresponds to a combination of 10% hardener and 20% plasticizer. The reliability of the proposed model was additionally confirmed experimentally using the control samples.