Optimization of mechanical properties of polymer concrete and mix design recommendation based on design of experiments

A series of polymer concretes using furan resin, silica aggregates, and microfiller were prepared for statistically designed combinations. The combinations were designed based on the mixture-design concept of design of experiments. The fillers chosen for the present investigation were high-purity naturally occurring silica of different particle sizes, their mix proportion optimized to have minimum void. For each polymer concrete combination, the mechanical properties were studied. Each response (mechanical property) was individually optimized for maximum values and compared with the experimental data. To obtain a single-input combination, having maximum values in all the responses, a combined optimization was done and a mix design was recommended. The coefficient of correlation between the experimental values and predicted values was found to be high, proving the fitness of the selected model. The effect of individual variables on the response was discussed. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 94: 1107–1116, 2004