Analysis of filler-fibre interaction in fly ash filled short fibre-epoxy composites using ultrasonic NDE

Size and aspect ratio are believed to influence the rheology or the flow in the mixture and in turn the mechanical performance of the composites. Fillers and fibres when used in combination are expected to complement each other's performance resulting in better properties for the composite. They also reduce the extent of matrix polymer required in the system. Composites involving fillers and fibres individually and in combination are studied for the level of defect population using NDE and the mechanical performance under compression correlated with such an analysis. It was found that inclusion filler-fibre combination besides yielding better physical properties like density also yielded improved mechanical properties like strength and modulus. These properties showed an improvement of about 30-40% as compared to the ones where a single reinforcement either ash or fibre was used. Further, they exhibited uniform distribution of defects whose population was least compared to the situation where only one component (either filler or fibre) as reinforcement was tried.