Preparation and mechanical properties of novel epoxy mortar incorporating hybrid toughening constituents

This paper presents an experimental investigation on a novel epoxy mortar formulated with bisphenol A-type epoxy resin, flexible curing agent, flexibilizer, silane coupling agent, defoaming agent, quartz sand and fly ash. The fluidity, compressive, tensile and flexural properties of the novel epoxy mortar were tested and discussed. The investigation focuses on the mass ratio of fly ash to quartz sand and observes its significant influence on the properties of the epoxy mortar. The results indicate that the novel resin mortar exhibited favorable workability, as well as high strength and exceptional deformation ability. The fluidity exhibited a decrease with an increase in fly ash content due to the corresponding augmentation of the specific surface area of the filler. Increasing the mass ratio of fly ash to quartz sand from 3:7 to 5:5 led to a reduction in the compressive, tensile, and flexural tensile strength and elastic modulus, while simultaneously enhancing ultimate strain and toughness. The novel epoxy mortar exhibits significant plastic deformation under compressive loading, and the utilization of engineering stress would lead to an overestimation of its ultimate compressive strength.