Preparation and Characterization of TiO2 Particulate Filled Polyester Based Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite

2014 ◽  
Vol 984-985 ◽  
pp. 360-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Srinivasa Moorthy ◽  
K. Manonmani ◽  
M. Sankar Kumar

Polyester based glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) composites are widely used in marine and automotive industries because of its strength to weight ratio with lower price. In order to have the better properties of GFRP composites, the particulate filler material titanium oxide (TiO2) was added in unsaturated polyester resin with the fiber reinforcement by hand lay-up process. The fiber content was kept at 35 wt% constant with the fiber length of 5 cm. The particulate was varied with 2 wt. %, 4 wt. %, 6 wt. %, 8 wt. %, and 10 wt. %. Experiments were carried out to study the mechanical properties like tensile strength, impact strength, and Rockwell hardness. The chemical resistance analysis (CRA) was carried out by weight loss method. The mechanical properties of the hybrid reinforced composites were improved due to the fiber content with increased particulate content. The influence of the particulate content was more pronounced in the chemical resistance.

Glass fiber reinforced polymer(GFRP) composites are currently used in large numbers of diverse applications ranging from tip and engine strut fairings in aircrafts, building panels and dash boards in automotive vehicles, boat hulls in ocean vehicle structures, golf clubs and race helmets in sports equipment, etc. The service life of composite materials are influenced by the different adverse environment which leads to various failures like corrosion, fatigue, fracture, etc., results in loss of structural integrity due to environmental conditions. The investigations involved are to study the mechanical behaviour of these materials when subjected to various adverse conditions of the environment at different intervals of exposure due to change in moisture and temperature. Experiments were conducted on GFRP composites with and without exposing to different environment conditions of sea water. Tensile and flexural tests are conducted to predict the mechanical behaviour of both normal specimens and specimens exposed with sea water. Reduction in mechanical properties found due to maximum absorption of any liquid by the material. When temperature increases better in mechanical properties are noticed and at low temperature the composite behaves like a brittle.


2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (28) ◽  
pp. 3539-3556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Pascual ◽  
Julia de Castro ◽  
André Kostro ◽  
Andreas Schueler ◽  
Anastasios P Vassilopoulos ◽  
...  

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