- Author
- Czarnecki, L. | Garbacz, A. | Lukowski, P. | Clifton, J. R.
- Title
- Optimization of Polymer Concrete Composites. Final Report.
- Coporate
- Warsaw University of Technology, Poland National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Report
- NISTIR 6361, August 1999, 63 p.
- Distribution
- AVAILABLE FROM National Technical Information Service (NTIS), Technology Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161. Telephone: 1-800-553-6847 or 703-605-6000; Fax: 703-605-6900. Website: http://www.ntis.gov
- Keywords
- concretes | composite materials | combustibility | epoxy resins | flammability | material design | microfiller | optimization | overall desirability | polymer concrete | polyester resin
- Abstract
- The objective of this project was the development of a method for the design and optimization of polymer concrete composites, using a fundamental approach based on material models of polymer concrete. The important technical properties and the statistical evaluation of the heterogeneity of polymer concrete are presented. Some aspects of the statistical design of experiments are described. It was shown that a material model based on quadratic functions formed a suitable basis for the optimization of polymer concrete. A comparative analysis of the material models of the two main types of polymer concrete, epoxy and polyester concrete, was carried The objective of this project was the development of a method for the design and optimization of polymer concrete composites, using a fundamental approach based on material models of polymer concrete. The important technical properties and the statistical evaluation of the heterogeneity of polymer concrete are presented. Some aspects of the statistical design of experiments are described. It was shown that a material model based on quadratic functions formed a suitable basis for the optimization of polymer concrete. A comparative analysis of the material models of the two main types of polymer concrete, epoxy and polyester concrete, was carried out. Graphical examples of model applications are presented and the conclusions from the analyses are given. The overall desirabilify function was then used as the metric for the multi-criteria optimization of polymer concrete. This optimization process was applied to several particular polymer concrete composites, including polyester concrete with silica fume, highly-filled polyester concrete to reduce material costs, and epoxy concrete of low flammability and combustibility. Experimental validation of the results of the optimization process was carried out. Specific problems were solved using the computer program MOS developed as part of this joint project. The manual for this user-friendly program, which should be a generally useful tool for polymer concrete designers, has been published separately.