Study on Compression and Flexural Behavior of ABS-SiO2 Polymer Matrix Composite Fabricated by Hot Extrusion

In the present work, an experimental study was done to prepare Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene matrix composite reinforced by Nano-silica particles. The hot extrusion method was utilized here to fabricate the composite specimens used for flexural and compression tests. In order to identify the effect of SiO2 content and extrusion temperature, 12 experiments have been carried out and the obtained results were discussed according to scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the sample cross section. In addition, crack propagation and barreling phenomenon were discussed by variation process factors. Obtained results revealed that addition of nano-SiO2 up to 3% would cause the improvement in both flexural and compression strengths while a further increase in reinforcement content causes reduction of composite strength. Furthermore, samples prepared at extrusion temperature of 210°C, have lower strength compared to those fabricated by 180°C temperature. Finally, it was found that increase in SiO2 content and decrease in extrusion temperature would increase the brittleness of composite.