Polymers:

Strength Variation
with Additives

Ariunaa Bayarbat, Scott Steffin,

and Travis Yaeger

SRJC Engr 45
12/05/05
Instructor: Younes Ataiiyan
How do different additions
to a polyester polymer
affect its strength?
 Polymers
 Monomer
– The basic building block of a polymer
– The smallest repeating unit in a polymer chain
– A polymer has a linear, branched, or network
structure of chained monomers
 Polymerization
– Initiation: Creation of the free radical, giving instability to
a monomer
– Propagation: Monomer additions to the chain, passing
along instability
– Termination: Removal of instability (free radical) through
combination with another unstable chain or impurity, or
passage of instability to another monomer
 Polymers form a network of interconnected
branches, like knots, held together by hydrogen
bonding and weak forces
 Resin
– “Any of numerous physically similar polymerized
synthetics or chemically modified natural resins
including thermoplastic materials such as polyvinyl,
polystyrene, and polyethylene and thermosetting
materials such as polyesters, epoxies, and silicones that
are used with fillers, stabilizers, pigments, and other
components to form plastics.”
 Polymer Categories
 Thermoplastic
 Thermoset
– Thermoset polymers get hard and rigid upon
heating
– They retain their shape once they are cooled
– They have network molecular structures
– The polymerization process is enhanced by
higher temperatures and it is not reversible
Polyester Thermoset
Casting Resin

 Reasons for choosing

– Inexpensive
– Clear
– Easy to make samples
– Thick enough for tests
 Experiment
 Base sample
– We mixed 100 g of the resin with 28 drops of the
catalyst MEKP (Methyl Ethyl Ketone Peroxide)
– We poured it into a mold of 5”x 4.5”
– Samples were about 0.25” thick
 Four different samples with additions
– 2.5 g of sawdust
– 2 g of vitamin C (from vitamin C tablets)
– 5 g of cornstarch
– 28 more drops of the catalyst
 We let the samples
set for a week
 We cut them into
small pieces and
uniform thickness
 We performed a
compression test on
the samples
 Stress/Strain Curve for all five Samples

60

50

40
Stress, σ (MPa)

Base
Corn Starch
30 Saw Dust
x-catalyst
Vitamin C
20

10

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
Strain, ε (in/in)

Area initial Thinknessin Thicknessfinal Change in Elastic Change Plastic Change in Modulus of
Sample (m2) Area final (m2) itial (m) (m) Thickness (%) in Thickness (%) Thickness (%) Elasticity, E (Mpa)
Base 1.64E-03 1.76E-03 0.220 0.205 54.55% 47.73% 6.82% 332
Cornstarch 7.82E-04 8.45E-04 0.200 0.185 55.00% 47.50% 7.50% 135
Sawdust 7.73E-04 8.88E-04 0.155 0.135 35.48% 22.58% 12.90% 69
Extra Catalyst 3.44E-04 4.42E-04 0.225 0.175 55.56% 33.33% 22.22% 41
Vitamin C 4.83E-04 6.39E-04 0.185 0.140 45.95% 21.62% 24.32% 78
 Analysis
 Theoretically, the base sample was
supposed to have the lowest strength
because the additives caused more strength
 The data show the base sample having the
greatest strength
 Real conclusions cannot be drawn from the
data because of the many variables besides
just the additions
 Conclusions
 The result was different from what we expected
 The reasons for inconclusive results
– Different sample areas
– Different sample thicknesses
– The uneven testing surface
 Things we would do differently
– Uniform size for all samples
– Much greater percentage of additions in each sample
– Use better testing surface
 Resources
 Shackelford, James F. Introduction to Materials Science for
Engineers. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc., 2005.
 http://members.tripod.com/sunfh/chem13.htm
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
 http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=resin
 http://www.deutsches-kunststoff-museum.de/optimal/eplast01.htm
 http://wwwcp.tphys.uni-heidelberg.de/Polymer/day1/p4.htm
 http://www.franklinparrasch.com/index.htm