The use of Taguchi method for mix-design optimization of polymer concrete with high resistance against mode I crack growth

Manufacturing polymer concrete (PC) with suitable performance against cracking is an important issue for using these composite materials in practical applications. Fracture toughness and fracture energy of such randomly distributed aggregates inside the matrix of polymeric resin is affected by the mix design and percentages of PC ingredients. In this research, the optimum composition of epoxy base PC mixture made of four ingredients (epoxy resin, fine and coarse silica aggregate) was obtained using a L8 Taguchi design of experiment method. Some fracture toughness tests under mode I were conducted on Single edge notched bending specimen according to design of experiment suggested by Taguchi method. The initial range for each PC ingredient was selected as: 25-31% fine aggregate, 21-23% epoxy resin, and 46-54% coarse aggregate, and it was found that the mixture containing maximum resin (23%), maximum fine filler, minimum percentages of fiber and coarse aggregate can provide the highest fracture energy and fracture toughness values.