Seminar Nasional Cendekiawan ke 4 Tahun 2018 ISSN (P) : 2460 - 8696

Buku 1: ”Teknik, Kedokteran Hewan, Kesehatan, Lingkungan dan Lanskap“ ISSN (E) : 2540 - 7589

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF STRUCTURAL EPOXY AFTER SIXTEEN

MONTHS EXPOSURE TO OUTDOOR TROPICAL ENVIRONMENT

Shukur Abu Hassan1), Khairunnisa Mohammad Yunus2), Umar Abdul Hanan3), Mohd
Yazid Yahya4), Mat Uzir Wahit5), Balqis Omar6)
1,2,3,4)
Sekolah Kejuruteraan Mekanikal, Fakulti Kejuruteraan, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
5)
Sekolah Kejuruteraan Kimia dan Tenaga, Fakulti Kejuruteraan, Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia
6)
Sekolah Kejuruteraan Awam, Fakulti Kejuruteraan, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
E-mail: shukur@utm.my

Abstract
Durability study in regards of epoxy as adhesive which commonly use in current civil
industry are still lacking in order to find easy accessible data base. Having validated data
to determine its life span will significantly help. The objective of this study is to find out the
mechanical properties of Resifix 31 structural epoxy after sixteen (16) months exposure to
outdoor tropical environment. The adhesive specimens were cast in a butterfly shaped
mould before being exposed to outdoor environment for sixteen (16) months. The
exposed specimens were labelled as ESLT-OD16 before being mounted to the Arcan
fixture which then attached to the 10kN universal testing machine in tensile mode to
determine its shear properties. Microstructure analysis is then performed to study their
respective surface fracture and cross-section fracture. The results are then compared to
the previous research of control room sample which labelled as ESST-CO06 and sample
that exposed to outdoor environment for six (6) months which labelled as ESLT-OD06.
The study shows that shear strength and shear modulus of ESLT-OD16 are the lowest
when compared to ESST-CO06 which is 61% and 88% respectively. The study also
shows that ESLT-OD16 having 34% of weight loss compared to ESLT-OD06 which is
resulting from the dry-wet cycle of the unpredictable outdoor condition.

Keywords: structural epoxy adhesive, outdoor weathering, arcan shear test

Introduction
A brittle material is one which exhibits relatively small extensions to fracture
resulting in the partially plastic region of the tensile test graph to be much reduced. In the
overview of brittle materials, mechanical behavior is determined by stress and strain
associated with material points throughout the material. Mechanical properties are
measured in test of samples in which loads or boundary displacements are applied in
such way that the relation between stress and strain at a typical point can be inferred.
In brittle materials, the situation is further complicated by the occurrence of
fracture. During deformation, the material structure changes due to the initiation and
propagation of cracks at different locations throughout the material. Problems
encountered conducting the test for brittle materials include devising specimen and
loading configuration in order to produce a state of uniform plane stress. The problem
increases significantly with the application of brittle composite materials and brittle
adhesives system nowadays in mechanical and civil engineering applications.

Literature Review
Plastic is material consisting of any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic
organic compounds that are malleable and so can be molded into solid objects. Plastics
are organic polymers of high molecular mass and often contain other substances.
Plasticity is the general property of all materials which can deform irreversibly without
breaking. The plasticity of the material during manufacture allows it to be cast, pressed, or

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Seminar Nasional Cendekiawan ke 4 Tahun 2018 ISSN (P) : 2460 - 8696
Buku 1: ”Teknik, Kedokteran Hewan, Kesehatan, Lingkungan dan Lanskap“ ISSN (E) : 2540 - 7589

extruded into a variety of shapes, such as: films, fibers, plates, tubes, bottles, boxes,
amongst many others.
Epoxy is either any of the basic components or the cured end products of epoxy
resins, as well as a colloquial name for the epoxide functional group. Epoxy resins, also
known as polyepoxides, are a class of reactive prepolymers and polymers which contain
epoxide groups. Epoxy resins may be reacted (cross-linked) either with themselves
through catalytic homopolymerisation, or with a wide range of co-reactants including
polyfunctional amines, acids (and acid anhydrides), phenols, alcohols and Thiols (usually
called mercaptans). These co-reactants are often referred to as hardeners or curatives,
and the cross-linking reaction is commonly referred to as curing.
Durability is the ability of a physical product to remain functional, without requiring
excessive maintenance or repair, when faced with the challenges of normal operation
over its design lifetime. Several units may be used to measure the durability of a product
according to its field of application, such as years of life, hours of use, and operational
cycles.
A tropical climate in the Köppen climate classification is a non-arid climate in which
all twelve months have mean temperatures of at least 18 °C (64 °F). In tropical climates
there are often only two seasons: a wet season and a dry season. Tropical climates are
frost-free, and changes in the solar angle are small. In tropical climates temperature
remains relatively constant (hot) throughout the year.
The development of experimental procedures and the evaluation of modelling
methodologies are deal with in order to study the inter-ply interface properties of fibre
reinforced composite materials. To improve the prediction capabilities of Finite Element
[FE] tools, failure modes in numerical models are taken into account delamination to
predict the crash and impact behaviours of composite aeronautical structures. The
considered experimental and numerical activities rely on the development and evaluation
of an Arcan test procedure that generates controlled mixed I/II loading modes, using
single specimen geometry.

Research Methodology
The goal of project is to study the shear properties of Resifix 31 epoxy after
sixteen months exposure to tropical outdoor environment. Figure 1 show flow chart of the
methodology in the project.

Figure 1: Methodology Flow Chart

The sample size of 60 mm long x 45 mm wide with an average thickness of 4.4

mm was used for the experimentation study as shown in Figure 2. The 90º notches were
formed at the centre of 60 mm length (at the top and bottom) such that the distance
between notches was left about 10 mm at the middle to introduce shear field on the
significant section, AB. A notch radius of 1.5 mm was produced.

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Seminar Nasional Cendekiawan ke 4 Tahun 2018 ISSN (P) : 2460 - 8696
Buku 1: ”Teknik, Kedokteran Hewan, Kesehatan, Lingkungan dan Lanskap“ ISSN (E) : 2540 - 7589

Figure 2: The butterfly sample geometry (All dimensions in mm)

The samples were prepared by mixing epoxy and hardener with the ratio of 3:1
and filled to the female part mould. A 10 kg metal block weight of was placed onto the top
of the mould to produce an extra uniform pressure before left in a laboratory environment
for at least 24 hours for full chemical reaction prior to demoulding and polishing.

Figure 3: Filling the epoxy mixture into the mould cavity

The samples were exposed to tropical outdoor environmental conditions, namely;

outdoor condition (OD). The samples were placed on aluminium bars which its surfaces
were alternately rotated (weekly). At the end of the exposure period, the samples were
brought in to the laboratory to prepare for final load test within two weeks time.
The exact shape and size of sample was mounted into the female part followed by
the male part the modified Arcan test fixture as in Figure 4. Both parts were tightened by
screws to prevent from slippage and misalignment during loading. Figure 5 shows the
complete assembly of the fixtures was attached to the holder at the lower and upper parts
accordingly prior to attachment to the Shimadzu Universal Tesing Machine Model AG-
10kN X PLUS.

Figure 4: Assembly drawing of Arcan fixture set-up

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Seminar Nasional Cendekiawan ke 4 Tahun 2018 ISSN (P) : 2460 - 8696
Buku 1: ”Teknik, Kedokteran Hewan, Kesehatan, Lingkungan dan Lanskap“ ISSN (E) : 2540 - 7589

Figure 5: Complete Arcan fixture attachment to holder

The sample was loaded in tension by using Shimadzu Universal Tesing Machine
Model AG-10kN X PLUS instrumented with 10 kN load cell. The loading rate was set-up to
1 mm/min and the sample was loaded up to failure. The sample principal strains (45°)
were measured at every 50 N load increment and this was manually recorded by TDS 530
data logger until near to failure. The applied load, machine displacement and time to
failure were recorded automatically by the computer. As a result, the relationship between
the applied shear stress and shear strain could be established by dividing the applied load
on the cross-sectional area of the significant section.
After the test, the surface fracture and microstructure analysis of each sample was
done by using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). SEM was used in this project to
visualize very small topographic details on the surface of fractured objects and also to
determine the elemental composition measurement of each sample.

Result and Discussion

The applied load, strain, time to failure and mode of failure were recorded and
observed for every single specimen. The properties such as shear stress, average shear
strength, average shear strain, and shear modulus were determined through Equation1, 2
and 3. The overall complete analyzed data for the each sample are shown in Table 1.

Shear stress, τxy = P/(bs x hs) (N/mm2) (1)

Shear strain, γxy = 2(εx) θ = 45° (2)
Shear modulus, Ga = Δτ/Δγ (kN/mm2) (3)

Table 1: Overall properties of Resifix 31 structural epoxy group samples

Ult. Shear Shear Shear Time to
Weight
Sample Load modulus, strength, strain, failure
Loss (% )
(kN) G (GPa) τ (MPa) γ (µε) (sec)
2.97 29.24 -
ESST-CO06 1.43 9275 66.40
(0.24) (2.66) -
2.70 23.85 0.098
ESLT-OD06 1.16 8435 45.83
(0.12) (2.36) (0.04)
0.35 11.47 3.450
ESLT-OD16 0.57 2734 36.39
(0.3) (3.73) (0.345)

From Table 1, it shows that the ESLT-OD16 sample had the lowest shear strength
value which was 11.47 MPa, compared to ESLT-OD06 which was 23.85 MPa followed by
ESST-CO06 which has the highest value of shear strength which was 29.24 MPa. Based
on the results, it can be said that the specimens’ shear strength was reduced due to long

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Seminar Nasional Cendekiawan ke 4 Tahun 2018 ISSN (P) : 2460 - 8696
Buku 1: ”Teknik, Kedokteran Hewan, Kesehatan, Lingkungan dan Lanskap“ ISSN (E) : 2540 - 7589

term from the exposure to dry-wet cycles from the outdoor environment. As the water
penetrated through the diffusion mechanism, the chemical chain of the Resifix 31
structural epoxy weakened. Another factor that influenced the shear strength was the
oxidation process resulting in increasing in weight loss for ESLT-OD16 with difference of
34% to the ESLT-OD06.
The shear strength for ESLT-OD16 was reduced to 61% lower than the ESST-
CO06 followed by ESLT-OD06 with 18%. The reducing in strength cause the ESLT-OD16
sample unable to withstand higher load which reduced to 60% compared to ESST-CO06
followed by ESLT-OD06 with 19%. Hence, resulting in reducing of 45% in time to failure
compared to ESST-CO06 followed by ESLT-OD06 with 31%.
The shear modulus for ESLT-OD16 was the lowest. Comparing with ESST-CO,
ESLT-OD16 sample had the lowest shear modulus value which was 88% lower followed
by ESLT-OD06 with 9% which can also be express as per Figure 6.

Figure 6: Overall shear stress-strain curve of Resifix 31 structural epoxy group samples

Figure 6 shows how long term exposure to outdoor environment affects the shear
properties of both ESLT samples to the ESST sample. From the graph we can see that
ESLT-OD16 curve line is the steepest which very near to the y-axis. This shows that
ESLT-OD16 experienced in increasing its rigidity due to loss of its elasticity which
resulting from the long term exposure to the outdoor environment. From the graph we can
see the significant of ESLT-OD16 data in determine the durability of Resifix 31 structural
epoxy due to long term exposure to outdoor environment.
In order to obtain the factors that may affect the strength of Resifix 31 structural
epoxy due to tropical exposure conditions, microstructure analysis is performed to the
surface and cross-section fracture part by using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)
with 500 magnification scale factor as shown in Figure 7 and 8.
From Figure 7, we can see that porosities were formed for all samples. The mixing
speed and materials composition geometrical are probable factors that lead to the
formation of porosities which may also influence the reliability of test data.

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Seminar Nasional Cendekiawan ke 4 Tahun 2018 ISSN (P) : 2460 - 8696
Buku 1: ”Teknik, Kedokteran Hewan, Kesehatan, Lingkungan dan Lanskap“ ISSN (E) : 2540 - 7589

(a) (b)

Porosity (Air Bubbles)

Porosity (Air Bubbles)

(c)

Figure 7: Micro-porosities in cross-section fracture part (a) ESST-CO06 (b) ESLT-OD06

(c) ESST-OD16

From Figure 8 we can see the formation of crack line for both ESLT samples that
was probably caused by oxidation process. The unpredictable outdoor environment such
as dry-wet condition which cause temperature fluctuation, presence of high humidity level,
reaction to mineral rain content, ultraviolet radiation and etc the resulting in chemical
reaction that break the polymer chain.

(a) (b)

(c)

Figure 8: Surface texture (a) ESST-CO06 (b) ESLT-OD06 (c) ESST-OD16

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Seminar Nasional Cendekiawan ke 4 Tahun 2018 ISSN (P) : 2460 - 8696
Buku 1: ”Teknik, Kedokteran Hewan, Kesehatan, Lingkungan dan Lanskap“ ISSN (E) : 2540 - 7589

Conclusion
The result indicated that the environment conditions had affected the shear
strength and shear modulus of ESLT-OD16 sample. Each property of ESLT-OD16 has
considerably decreased in percentage compared to both ESST-CO06 and ESLT-OD06
sample.
The shear strength for ESLT-OD16 was reduced to 61% lower than the ESST-
CO06 followed by ESLT-OD06 with 18%. The shear modulus for ESLT-OD16 was 88%
lower followed by ESLT-OD06 with 9%. ESLT-OD16 experienced in increasing its rigidity
due to loss of its elasticity as its curve line is the steepest which very near to the y-axis
which resulting from the long term exposure to the outdoor environment.
The microstructure analysis on the surface and cross-section fracture part shows
the formation of crack line and porosities were formed in both ESLT samples.

Acknowledgement
The author would like to acknowledge Universiti Teknologi Malaysia for funding
this research under Research University Grant (GUP Tier 1) ( Vot No: 17H91).

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