Effect of Fabrication Techniques, Resin Types and Fiber Combinations on Mechanical Properties and Morphology of Glass Fiber Composites

Abstract

Glass fiber composites were fabricated from two different manufacturing techniques, vacuum infusion and vacuum bag, two resin types (epoxy, vinyl ester), as well as and two fiber combinations (S-glass and E-glass). The analyzed properties were tensile modulus, strength as well as compression strength, with relation to sample morphology and fracture surface due to compression. The results showed that all variables and their interaction did not significantly influence tensile modulus, while manufacturing methods was the only significant variable influenced tensile strength. The results showed that vacuum infusion samples had better tensile strength than those produced by vacuum bag due to less resin and bubbles. In term of compression, the change on strength was highly contributed by resin type and fiber used on layer A. Composites samples with epoxy resin showed better strength than those of vinyl ester may be due to better initial resin property. While, imbalance transfer load and fiber density inhibiting resin penetration and causing resin rich samples produced lower compression strength for samples with S-glass applied to layer A than E-glass. Further analysis on fracture surface showed that most samples failed on compression test due to shear, kink and resin break.

Effect of Void Content on the Mechanical Properties of GFRP for Ship Design

“…This is because defects can be caused by environmental factors, such as temperature and humidity, during production, and other factors such as the proficiency of the laminate manufacturer, manufacturing method, type of reinforcing material used, and viscosity of the base material. To reduce such inner defects, several studies have analyzed the void content (volume content) for different lamination methods [16,17] and lamination sequences [18]. Sophisticated quality inspection methods such as ultrasonics, infrared thermography, shearography, and radiography are primarily used for relatively thin composite structures in the aerospace industry [19].…”