Construction and Building Materials 197 (2019) 12–20

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Construction and Building Materials

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Mechanical, thermal and microstructural properties of epoxy-OAT

composites
Gholamali Farzi a, Mojtaba Lezgy-Nazargah b,⇑, Amin Imani a,c, Mahdi Eidi b, Majid Darabi b
a
Department of Material and Polymer Engineering, Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar 9617976487-397, Iran
b
Department of Civil Engineering, Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar 9617976487-397, Iran
c
Department of Materials Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada

h i g h l i g h t s

 OAT powder is employed as filler for the production of a new type of epoxy composites.
 The morphology of the OAT-epoxy composites is studied using XRD and SEM.
 Thermal behavior of OAT-epoxy composites is investigated using TGA experiments.
 OAT powder can be used as an alternative to epoxy fillers like calcium carbonate in composite manufacturing.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this study, the oxyamino triazine (OAT) is used to produce a new type of epoxy composites by direct
Received 12 August 2018 mix technique. OAT is one of the common by-product s in the petrochemical industry. A huge amount of
Received in revised form 29 October 2018 OAT is daily produced in the petrochemical processes without especial application. Here, OAT was used as
Accepted 23 November 2018
new filler to the epoxy resin, the weight percent of OAT was varied from 0 to 50 and the mechanical prop-
Available online 26 November 2018
erties (e.g. Young’s Module, strength, ductility, impact, hardness) of composites has been studied. The
morphology of the OAT-epoxy composites is also studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning elec-
Keywords:
tron microscope (SEM). Thermal behavior of OAT-epoxy composites is also investigated using thermo-
Epoxy resin
Alternative filler
gravimetric analysis (TGA) experiments. The results obtained in this study reveal that the OAT powder
OAT can be used as an alternative to epoxy fillers like calcium carbonate in composite manufacturing due
Mechanical properties to the low density and improvement of mechanical properties.
Composite polymer Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction applications thanks to good chemical, physical and mechanical

Nowadays, in many advanced applications, several material
properties are required simultaneously. Composite materials can
provide various desired properties. For example, in the aerospace
industries, lightweight materials with high strength and high abra-
sion resistance as well as high weathering and high-temperature
resistance are required [1].
The special properties of polymers, such as good physical and
mechanical properties, low cost of production as well as their easy
formation, encourage investigators from academia and industry to
produce high-performance polymeric products. Polymer compos-
ites are durable and have a large variety of production methods
consequently an effective way to satisfy industrial requirements
[2]. Epoxy resin is one of the most common polymers for industrial
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: m.lezgy@hsu.ac.ir (M. Lezgy-Nazargah).
properties. Matrix is very important for general behavior; however,
the filler is a key issue in the determination of final properties of
polymer composites. In particulate reinforced composites, the
properties do not depend on the direction of measurement, how-
ever, in fibrous composites, the latter is very significant parameter
which is out of our discussion [3,4]. Generally, the particulate rein-
forcing agents are highly effective in increasing of the hardness or
Young’s modulus of composites [5–7]. Reinforcing polymer matri-
ces with some particulate reinforcing agents not only does not lead
to the improvement of the ultimate strength of composites but also
the presence of hard reinforcing agents in a fragile matrix reduces
the strength of the composite due to the stress concentration phe-
nomenon [8,9]. In practice, these particulate reinforcing agents is
used in cases that the improvement of the strength against the
applied mechanical loads is not important. However, using partic-
ulate reinforcing agent in polymer matrix is employed also for
modifying the thermal and electrical conductivity [10], improve-

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2018.11.202
0950-0618/Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 G. Farzi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 197 (2019) 12–20 13

Table 1
The results of previous researches on particulate composites.

The epoxy resin additives Result

Silica particles Increasing the glass transition temperature and impact strength [22]
Oxide of titanium Increasing the resistance against thermal and UV light [23]
Carbon fiber Increasing Young’s module as well as the compressive and shear strength [24–27]
Copper Increasing thermal conductivity, tensile strength, and modulus of elasticity [28,29]
Aluminum particles Increasing Young’s modulus, hardness, thermal conductivity, friction and impact strength [30,31]
Iron particles Increasing the electrical conductivity and the absorption of microwave energy [32,33]
Zinc Increasing the absorption of electromagnetic waves, corrosion resistance and avoid leaving [34–36]
Nickel particles Increasing mechanical properties and corrosion resistance [37,38]
Nickel, copper, and aluminum Increasing the impact strength [39]
Iron, copper, aluminum Increasing the abrasion resistance [40]
Sand Reducing the wear rate; increasing strength, increasing the corrosion resistance and other
mechanical properties [41,42]
Double hydroxides, aluminum, Increasing flame resistance and reducing the corrosion resistance [43,44]
and magnesium
Bohr Improving electrical and thermal conductivity, increasing the resistance against cracks,
increasing the attraction ability of nuclear radiations [45–48]

mechanical properties of obtained hybrid nanocomposites. The

120 obtained results of these researchers show that the addition of
3% nano filler into the kenaf epoxy composites improves both
100 mechanical and morphological properties considerably. Ozgul
80 and Ozkul [17] investigated the effects of epoxy, hardener, and
Percent (%)

diluent types on the workability of epoxy mixtures. They used

60 three different types of epoxy resins, six amine type hardeners
40 and three reactive diluents. Senthilkumar et al. [18] studied the
mechanical properties of sisal fibre polymer composites. They
20 investigated the effects of several factors such as fibre loadings,
0 fibre architecture, fibre length, water absorption, chemical concen-
tration, exposure time and filler weight%, on the mechanical prop-
1 10 100 1000 10000
erties of fabricated sisal fibre polymer composites. Chen et al. [19]
Size (nm) studied the effects of different polymer types (polyethylene glycol,
Fig. 1. Particle size distribution of OAT powder.
polyacrylamide and sodium polyacrylate) on the mechanical prop-
erties of slag-based geopolymers. Kim et al. [20] studied the perfor-
mance of a type of mortar which does not contain hardener and its
epoxy resin contents is modified with pyrolysis tar, a by-product of
Table 2
Results of OAT particle size analysis (DLS test). the green wood industry. Alonge et al. [21] investigated the dura-
bility and compressive strength of a new type of hybrid cementi-
MV (nm) MV (nm) MN (nm) PDI
tious composites. The mixture of proposed cementitious
6000 5990 5960 0.00281 composites of these researchers contains metakaolin which is pro-
duced in the laboratory using epoxy resin, nanosilica and raw kao-
lin. A review of the open literature shows that the combination of
various particle types with epoxy and studying the properties of
the final obtained composite have been carried out by different
researchers [22–48]. For the sake of brevity, the results of these
previous researches are presented concisely in Table 1.
Nowadays, industries demand inexpensive materials with
desirable properties. To the best of authors’ knowledge, compre-
hensive research scientifically and practically on the mixing of
OAT powder (as inexpensive filler) with epoxy resin or other resins
for manufacturing epoxy composites has not been reported yet. A
considerable amount of OAT powder produces every day at the
petrochemical complex of Bojnord (Bojnord, Khorasan-Shomali,
Iran) as a by-product of melamine petrochemical production pro-
cesses. OAT is produced whenever the existing Urea does not have
Fig. 2. Structural formulation of main ingredients of OAT: (a) ammeline, (b) the opportunity to react completely in the melamine producing
ammelide. procedure. The aim of this study is to find a new application for this
insignificant by-product that never reported before. In order to find
a suitable way for the useful application of this product; different
ment of thermal stability for application in high temperatures [11], cases were studied by the authors. Among the different cases, the
reduction of the friction [12], increasing the wear resistance [13], mixing of OAT particles with resins for the construction of a new
reducing the shrinkage [14] and especially for reducing the price composite product with higher efficiency was overture. As it is
of production process [15]. Saba et al. [16] used nano OPEFB, known, powders such as calcium carbonate and silicon oxide are
MMT and OMMT filler for producing a new type of epoxy based used as filler in polymer composites. Since the OAT powder does
hybrid nanocomposites. They studied the morphology and not react with resins in a neutral environment, it seems to be a
14 G. Farzi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 197 (2019) 12–20

Table 3
Physical properties and characteristics of OAT components.

Ammelide Ammeline
IUPAC name 6-amino-2-4-dihydroxy1-3-5-three azide 6-4-diamino-2-hydroxy1-3-5-three azide
Chemical formula C 3 H4 N 4 O2 C 3 H5 N 5 O
Density 1.573gr/cm 1.762gr/cm
Melting point <300 °C <300 °C
Shape White powder White powder
Solubility Soluble in inorganic acids and alkalis and ammonia Soluble in inorganic acids and alkalis and insoluble in acetic acid
Solubility in water Very low Very low

60
Table 4 0%
Mechanical properties of commercial CO-204.
10%
Mechanical properties Value Unit Standard test method
50
20%
Compressive strength 37.8 MPa ASTM D695M
30%
Compressive modulus 569.77 MPa ASTM D695M 40
Tensile strength 33.02 MPa ASTM D638M 40%

Stress (MPa)
Tensile modulus 1800 MPa ASTM D638M
30 50%
Impact strength 0.5–5 KJ/m2 ASTM D256

20
Table 5
Recipe of the epoxy-OAT composites.
10
Samples OAT particles (gr) Hardener (gr) Epoxy (gr) Soya
lecithin (gr)
A(0%) – 12 120 – 0
B(10%) 13.2 12 120 0.132 0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025
C(20%) 26.4 12 120 0.264 Strain
D(30%) 39.6 12 120 0.396
E(40%) 52.8 12 120 0.528 Fig. 4. Stress-strain curve of OAT composite samples.
F(50%) 66.0 12 120 0.660

2750 (b)
2636
2581
2522
Young's modulus (MPa)

2500 2449

2299
2250

2000

1820
1750

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Samples

Fig. 5. Young’s modulus of epoxy-OAT composites.

Fig. 3. Some of the prepared composite samples.

suitable case for usage as filler to produce epoxy composites. Epoxy
resin was selected as a matrix due to its good physical and
mechanical properties. Indeed, OAT powder is employed as filler
in this study for the production of a novel particulate composite
material which is called the ‘‘Epoxy-OAT composite”. To achieve this
aim, different samples of resin epoxy with OAT powder content 0–
50 wt% were prepared. Consequently, the mechanical and struc-
tural properties of these samples were investigated in order to find
appropriate answers to the following main questions: Can OAT
powder increase the mechanical strength of resin epoxy? If OAT
powder has reasonable effects on mechanical properties, can they
be employed as good alternative filler instead of the calcium car-
bonate or other common fillers to reduce costs? To answer all
the above questions, two categories of tests were carried out: (a)
mechanical tests including tensile, impact, and hardness test; (b)
the structural tests including XRD, SEM, and TGA. The obtained
results of this study reveal this fact that the mixing of OAT powders
with the epoxy resin leads to the production of inexpensive partic-
ulate composites with improved thermal and mechanical
properties.
 G. Farzi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 197 (2019) 12–20 15

60
1.45
50 1.4
Tensile strength (MPa)

40
1.23
30 1.2
1.1

KJ/M2
20

10 1.0
0.94
0 0.85
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 0.797
0.8
Samples

Fig. 6. Tensile strength of epoxy-OAT composites.

0.6
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

2.1 Samples

Fig. 8. A comparison between the impact resistances of samples.

2.05
Percentage elongaon

2 0.48

1.95 0.46
Toughness (MJ/m3)

1.9
0.44

1.85
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 0.42
Samples
0.4
Fig. 7. Ductility of epoxy-OAT composites.

0.38
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
2. Materials Samples

2.1. Introduction to the melamine crystal Fig. 9. Toughness of epoxy-OAT composites.

Melamine is a white crystalline non-toxic powder produced from Urea. Mela-

mine is usually used in the form of formaldehyde at rubber, cement, concrete, adhe-
140
sives, molding compounds, coating, dishes, nitrogen carrier consumer, leather 135.5
industry, textile, carpet, off controllers, color and coverage, colored resin, paper,
multi-layer laminates and coatings decoration industries.

123.1
2.2. OAT formation
120 117.4
If the chemical reaction of melamine production does not complete, OAT is
115.3
N/mm2

obtained. In the other words, OAT is produced whenever the existing urea does
not have the opportunity to react together completely. At temperature room, OAT 108.4
is in the form of a white powder. After suspending OAT powder (846gr) in water,
the Dynamic light scattering (DLS) test was employed for determining the size dis-
tribution of its particles. The graph depicted in Fig. 1 shows the particle size distri- 100
bution of OAT powder. Polydispersity index (PDI), mean volume (MV), mean
number (MN) and mean intensity (MI) diameter of OAT particles are also given in
Table 2. 89.6
As shown in Fig. 2, the OAT is composed of two distinct materials, ammeline
and ammelide which both are obtained from the incomplete chemical conversion
of Urea to melamine. Physical properties and characteristics of OAT components
(i.e. ammelide and ammeline) are given in Table 3. 80
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Samples
2.3. Preparation method of epoxy-OAT composite
Fig. 10. The average hardness values.
Generally, composites manufacturing process can be divided into two cate-
gories: open and closed mold. In this study, open mold process is employed. In For the preparation of epoxy-OAT composites, the commercial CO-204 epoxy
the open mold, a single-sided mold is used. In the other words, in open molding, resin is employed as a matrix. The mechanical properties of the CO-204 epoxy resin
only one side of the piece is in contact with the mold and the other side may be are shown in Table 4. The reason for choosing this type of resin is its relatively low
in contact with air or flexible objects [49]. viscosity compared to other available resins. The CO-204 epoxy resin can be easily
16 G. Farzi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 197 (2019) 12–20
Fig. 11. SEM images from the microstructure of the OAT composite samples: (a) 0 wt% OAT; (b) 30 wt% OAT; (c) 50 wt% OAT.
used in sensitive and delicate molding processes without appearing any weakness
or fault in the molded model. Moreover, due to the low density of the CO-204, it is
possible to use this resin with different types of fillers. In the manufacturing process
of OAT composites, the polyamine HA-12 is employed as a hardener. Soya lecithin is
also used as a dispersing agent in the preparation of sample composites. Based on
supplier experiences, it was found that the best mixing value for the epoxy to hard-
ener ratio is 90:10. Due to using Polyamine group as a hardener and reactive diluent
as a solvent, this ratio is suitable for getting best mechanical properties (we chose
that ratio just for this application). Although, this ratio needs more time for drying,
it help to have a homogeneous structure, better interaction between hardener and
matrix, and consequently better semi collaboration between filler and matrix.
In order to investigate the mechanical and structural properties of the proposed
epoxy-OAT composite, samples were made by combining the epoxy resin with dif-
ferent weight percentage of OAT powder (0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50%) according
to the ASTM standard. Mixing details of these samples are shown in Table 5. To this
aim, epoxy resin and OAT were mixed together firstly. Then, 1 wt% soya lecithin was
added into the mixture. The obtained mixtures were placed in a mechanical stirrer
for 1 h. Then, hardener was added to the mixtures and the stirring process was con-
tinued again for 5 min. Finally, the resulting mixture was placed in a vacuum des-
iccator for 10–15 min to remove the bubbles entered into the mixture caused by
stirring. In the final step, the resulting mixture was poured into molds. After 24 h,
the samples were ejected from the mold. However, the prepared composite samples
were tested after 7 days. All above-mentioned steps were done at room tempera-
ture. Some prepared composite samples are shown in Fig. 3.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Mechanical properties
The tension test is carried out using the Instron testing machine
model 8802 with applying the displacement rate 5 mm/min at
room temperature. The stress-strain curves of the OAT composite
samples A-F till fracture are shown in Fig. 4. Young’s modulus cor-
responding to OAT samples are shown in Fig. 5. It can be seen from
Fig. 5 that with increasing of OAT particles, Young’s modulus of the
composite samples A-D increases while it decreases in samples E-F.
Due to the appearing of relatively strong Van der Waals forces
between the epoxy resin and OAT phases in composite samples
A-D, Young’s modulus of specimens increases with the increase
of the weight percentage of OAT powder. Indeed, the interatomic
bond strength increases due to the appearance of Van der Waals
forces between the epoxy resin and OAT phases. With increasing
the interatomic bond strength, the interatomic bonding energy
minima increases and hence Young’s modulus increases in
composite samples A-D. It is worthy to note here that the Young’s
modulus of a composite material is proportional to slope of the
force versus the interatomic separation curve at equilibrium spac-
ing [50]. In other words, Young’s modulus is proportional to the
minimum value of interatomic bonding energy curve [50]. The
decrease of Young’s modulus of sample E-F may be due to this fact
that with the increase of the OAT contents in the resin epoxy, the
possibly of agglomeration phenomenon increases. It is worthy to
note that these obtained results followed the trends reported by
Khan et al. [51] who improved mechanical properties of resin com-
posites by using nanofillers.
The tensile strength of OAT composite samples A-F are shown in
Fig. 6. This figure shows that the tensile strength in samples A-D
increases with increase of weight percentage of OAT powder. The
tensile strength of epoxy resin was increased about 31% with the
addition of 30 wt% OAT powder. In samples E and F, the tensile
 G. Farzi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 197 (2019) 12–20
Fig. 12. SEM image for investigating the size of OAT particles.
strength decreases with increase of OAT content. This decrease in
the tensile strength of these samples can be attributed to the
improper dispersion of OAT particles in the epoxy matrix. Note that
these obtained results are parallel to other reported works [51,52].
Fig. 7 is a graph showing the effects of OAT content on the duc-
tility of composites samples (measured in terms of percentage
elongation). The ductility of the composite samples A-D reduces
as the weight percentage of OAT increases. Concerning the samples
E-F, the behavior is vice versa. This phenomenon can be inter-
preted based on this fact that the materials with higher strength
usually exhibit higher brittleness.
In order to determine the amount of energy absorbed by the
epoxy-OAT composite samples during fracture, Charpy V-notch
test was carried out. The specimens were tested according to the
ASTM standard using a by Resil impact testing machine model
6958 at high-speed conditions [53,54]. The average values (6 tests)
of the fracture energy per area for composite samples A-F are
shown in Fig. 8. The tensile toughness of OAT samples are also
shown in Fig. 9. In this figure, tensile toughness is measured by cal-
culating the area under the stress-strain curve (i.e. Fig. 4). It can be
seen from this graph that with increasing the weight percentage of
17
OAT particles, the impact resistance and toughness of the compos-
ite samples A-D increases. Concerning the samples E-F, the impact
resistance decreases slightly. It seems that the appearance of
strong links between the epoxy resin and OAT particles leads to
the increasing of the impact resistance. However, the links
between two different constituents reduce when the weight per-
centage of OAT powder exceeds than 30% as a consequence of
agglomeration phenomenon [55]. These results follow the trends
obtained by other researchers [51,52] who investigated the influ-
ence of nanofillers on toughness and impact resistance of resin
epoxy composites.
To determine the hardness, the Rockwell hardness test
method, as defined in ASTM E-18, is used. All present tests are
carried out using Frank Hard Rockwell testing machine model
38176. The average hardness values (10 tests) of the considered
samples are given in Fig. 10. It can be seen that the hardness of
composite samples A-D increases with increasing of OAT parti-
cles. However, the hardness of composite samples E and F
decrease. This degeneration in the hardness values of these sam-
ples can be attributed to the agglomeration of OAT particles in
the epoxy matrix.
18 G. Farzi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 197 (2019) 12–20

3.2. Morphological studies phase of weight loss for this composite sample occurs at tempera-
ture 482 °C. A comparison between the depicted graphs of Fig. 14
The captured SEM images from the microstructure of the com- reveals this fact that the use of 50 wt% OAT powder leads to a sig-
posite samples with 0, 30 and 50 wt% OAT are shown in Fig. 11. nificant improvement in the thermal resistance of OAT composite
These images are prepared using a Vega Tescan machine. By com- samples. These results followed the trends reported by Singh
paring the microstructure these OAT composite samples, it can be et al. [52] who investigated the influences of nanofillers on thermal
observed that with increasing the weight percentage of the OAT stability of epoxy resin polymers.
powder, the agglomeration and the accumulation tendency of
these particles increase. It can be seen that there is a good disper-
3.3. OAT powder vs other fillers
sion in particulate composite with 30 wt% OAT and in this case, the
amount of agglomeration is very low. As it was approved by the
Table 6 gives an overview of the effects of the OAT particles on
mechanical tests, this good dispersion improves the physical and
the mechanical, thermal and other physical properties of resin
mechanical properties of the OAT composites.
epoxy. In this table, the effects of adding OAT particles into the
Fig. 12 shows the shape of OAT particles in the composite sam-
epoxy resin are also compared with another type of particulate
ples. It is seen that OAT particles are often irregular and have
and fiber fillers. The study of this table approves this fact that
quasi-spherical shapes. The results show that the size of OAT par-
the OAT powder is a useful filler for the manufacturing of inexpen-
ticles in composite samples is in the range of 50 nm-600 nm and
sive composite products with improved physical and mechanical
their distribution in samples with a low weight percentage of
properties.
OAT particles are very good. However, with increasing the weight
percentage of OAT powder, this distribution becomes irregular
and agglomeration of these particles occurs.
In order to obtain more in-depth information about the
microstructure of OAT composite, including identification and
quantification of crystalline phases, XRD test was carried out using A
a Thilits testing machine model pw1800. Among existing OAT D
composite samples, A, D and F ones were examined and the results F
are shown in Fig. 13. It can be observed from this figure that there
is no significant peak in the XRD spectrum of the analyzed OAT
Intensity (a.u.)

composite samples. This means that there is no crystalline phase

in the epoxy-OAT composites. In other words, the size of con-
stituent particles in OAT composite is very fine so that they virtu-
ally do not give any peak in the XRD spectrum. Based on this
obtained results, one can consider the composites as an amorphous
material.
To find more information about physical and chemical proper-
ties of OAT composites (e.g. second-order phase transitions, vapor-
ization, sublimation, absorption, adsorption, desorption), TGA was
carried out. TGA is a method of thermal analysis with the constant
heating rate in which changes in physical and chemical properties
20 40 60 80
of materials are measured as a function of increasing temperature.
TGA studies were examined on OAT composite samples A, D, and F 2
using a thermogravimetric analyzer machine model CU Pont
Fig. 13. Results of XRD tests for OAT composite samples A, F, and D.
Instruments. To this aim, the temperature of OAT samples was ele-
vated with the rate of 5 °C per minute until their temperature
reached 800 °C after 160 min. Through elevating the temperature
of OAT samples, the changes in their weight was recorded. The 100
obtained TGA results are depicted in Fig. 14. It is seen from this fig- 0%
ure that the tested sample A which is made of pure epoxy resin 30%
without OAT particles reaches to its glass transition temperature 80 50%
at 70 °C with a small loss of its initial weight. Then, it reaches to
the first phase of weight loss at 100 °C which can be attributed
Weight loss (%)

to the existence of the moisture in the polymer. The second phase 60

of weight loss in the pure epoxy resin sample A occurs at temper-
ature 275 °C which is related to the beginning of the destruction of
40
the hardener. This phase of weight loss becomes completed at tem-
perature 400 °C. Then, the remaining material is completely
destroyed up to 700 °C.
20
Composite sample D reaches to its first phase of weight loss at
102 °C which shows the existence of the moisture in the polymer.
The weight loss due to destroying the hardener occurs at temper-
0
ature 250 °C. The third phase of weight loss at the composite sam-
ple D occurs at temperature 446 °C which is due to destroying the 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
OAT particles. This phase of weight loss continues until the tem-
Temperature (oC)
perature reaches 700 °C. Concerning the composite sample F which
contains 50 wt% OAT, it experiences its first phase of weight loss at Fig. 14. Results of temperature gravimetric analysis for OAT composite samples A,
temperature 384 °C with a rapid rate of degradation. The second D, and F.
 G. Farzi et al. / Construction and Building Materials 197 (2019) 12–20 19

Table 6
Effect of different fillers on the mechanical and physical properties of the epoxy resin [56].

Property Type of filler

Glass Asbestos Carbon Whisker Synthetic Mica Graphite Quartz Silica Calcium Metal Grime OAT
fibre fibre fibre powder Carbonate oxides (presemt)
Hardness + + + + + +
Tensile strength + + + + + + + +
Young’s modulus + + + + + + + + + + + +
Impact strength ± – – – + ± – – ± – + +
Thermal conductivity + + + + + + + + + + –
Heat stability + + + + + + +
Cost* + + – – – + + + + + + +
*
+ is a sign of being cheap.

4. Conclusion
OAT is one of the by-product s of petrochemical industries. In
order to recycle OAT and find a new application, it was added to
the epoxy resin to and epoxy-OAT composites were successfully
fabricated. The effects of OAT weight percent on the mechanical,
morphological and thermal behavior of the composite were inves-
tigated and the results can be summarized as follows:
1. Young’s modulus, tensile strength, toughness, impact and hard-
ness of the epoxy-OAT composite increases with increasing the
OAT weight percent till 30% then decreased by further addition
of OAT due to the tendency of these particles to agglomerate.
This is in accordance with the results of many conventional
hard fillers.
2. XRD studies elucidated that OAT structure remains amorphous
in epoxy-OAT composites. This confirmed the increasing in the
modulus of elasticity, tensile strength, toughness, impact and
hardness properties.
3. In epoxy-OAT composites, the thermal resistance was improved
in samples which contain 50 wt% OAT due to the high thermal
resistance of OAT.
4. The use of OAT may lead to cost-effective epoxy-OAT compos-
ites due to inexpensive/good properties of OAT filler. These
results conduct us to appropriate alternative filler for manufac-
turing of new inexpensive epoxy composites.
Future researches are toward the construction of new OAT com-
posites materials by using other types of resin like polyester, poly-
urethane and polyvinylidene chloride.
Conflict of Interest:
All authors of the present paper (Mechanical, thermal and
microstructural properties of epoxy-OAT composites) declare that
they have no conflict of interest.
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