Dynamic Mechanical Analysis of Fly Ash Filled Polyurea Elastomer

Abstract

In this work, the material properties of a series of fly ash/polyurea composites were studied. Dynamic mechanical analysis was conducted to study the effect of the fly ash volume fraction on the composite’s mechanical properties, i.e., on the material’s frequency- and temperature-dependent storage and loss moduli. It was found that the storage and loss moduli of the composite both increase as the fly ash volume fraction is increased. The storage and loss moduli of the composites relative to those of pure polyurea initially increase significantly with temperature and then slightly decrease or stay flat, attaining peak values around the glass transition region. The glass transition temperature (measured as the temperature at the maximum value of the loss modulus) shifted toward higher temperatures as the fly ash volume fraction increased. Additionally, we present the storage and loss moduli master curves for these materials obtained through application of the time-temperature superposition on measurements taken at a series of temperatures.