Mechanical properties of norbornene-based silane treated glass fiber reinforced polydicyclopentadiene composites manufactured by the S-RIM process

A lab scale structural reaction injection molding (S-RIM) piece of equipment was designed and used to fabricate glass fiber reinforced polydicyclopentadiene (p-DCPD) composites for three different fiber contents. In order to obtain information regarding the optimal process temperature (>80°C) and the curing time (<30 s), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to investigate the curing behavior of DCPD resin under isothermal conditions. Further, a norbornene-based silane treatment was used to improve the interfacial adhesion between the glass fibers and DCPD as confirmed by the micro-droplet pull-out test and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Fabrication of glass fiber/p-DCPD composites with improved mechanical properties was carried out based on the optimized process conditions and surface treatment of glass fiber.