Effect of Marble Hop Waste Ratios on Mechanical Properties of Polyester Matrix Composites

Abstract

In developing countries, the methods used to recycle and re-use waste materials should be investigated in order to benefit from natural resources effectively. In our country, there are a lot of waste materials which have economic value. One of them is waste marble (Uygunoğlu et al., 2014). As a result of its geological location, Turkey possesses very rich, natural stone reserves in various colours and patterns (Çelik and Sabah, 2008). Marble wastes are generated by quarries and processing plants in different forms. The large amount of marble wastes is a serious problem for the industry and the environment (Tozsin et al., 2014).The by-product generated from marble processing is a powdered dust and may represent an environmental problem (Ghazy and Gad, 2014). Many researchers recently were interested in studying the possibility of recycle and re-use of such wastes in useful industries (Aliabdo et al., 2014). Natural stone powder is generally used as a raw material or reinforcement material in various areas such as building materials, bricks, ceramics, cement additives, desulphurization processes and infiltration. In addition, natural stone powder can be used in the production of polymer based composite material (Bilgin et al., 2012). The composite manufacturing has been a wide area of research and it is the preferred choice due to its superior properties like low density, stiffness, light weight and possesses better mechanical properties. This has found its wide applications in aerospace, automotive, marine and sporting industries (Gopinath et al., 2014). A composite material is a non uniform solid consisting of two or more different materials that are mechanically bonded together. Each of the various components retains its identity in the composite and maintains its characteristic structure and properties. Generally, the structure of a composite consists of two phases, matrix and reinforcement. Composite materials may be selected to give unusual combinations of stiffness, strength, weight, high-temperature performance, corrosion resistance, hardness, or conductivity (Askeland et al., 2010).