The effect of micro granite on barcol hardness, flexural and compression strength of basalt and glass fiber reinforced composites using industrial polyester

Micro granite, a variety of fine-grained particles derived from granite, has shown significant potential as a filler material in advancing composite materials. Integrating micro granite fillers into different matrix materials can enhance mechanical characteristics. This study aims to develop a new composite filled with micro granite in basalt and glass fibre-reinforced composite. The fabrication of this new composite using hand lay-up and vacuum silicon mould from the industry. Materials involved were basalt and glass fibre as the matrix, micro granite as filler and industrial polyester as resin. The performance of the composites was measured by conducting the Barcol Hardness, flexural and compression tests. The Barcol hardness value of BFRC is 54.60, increasing 30.6% from unmodified BFRC. Meanwhile, the highest Barcol hardness value of GFRC is 52.40, increasing 54.12% from unmodified GFRC. The flexural value for GFRC from 223.64MPa to 268.69MPa (the highest value), with an increasing value of 20.14%. The flexural value for BFRC went from 244.20MPa to the highest value at 3wt.%, 282.08MPa, with an increasing value of 15.51%. The compressive strength value also increased for maximum value in GFRC from 99.78MPa to 151.69MPa with an increasing percentage of 52%. The compressive strength value also increased in BFRC 125.76MPa to 137.67MPa and 149.04Mpa with an increasing percentage of 9.5% and 8.25%. This is because micro granite has a wide surface area to fill in the polyester until a certain amount of wt.%, in this experiment, until 3wt%. The surface morphological analysis was also carried out and discussed.