An experimental and numerical investigation of mechanical properties of glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites

Abstract

Composites are one of the most advanced and adaptable engineering materials. The strength of any composite depends upon volume/weight fraction of reinforcement, L/D ratio of fibers, orientation angles and other factors. The present work focuses on determination of mechanical properties of pure epoxy and random oriented glass fiber (mat) reinforced epoxy at 10% and 20% weight fractions of glass fibers. The test specimens were prepared and tested according to ASTM standards. The experimental results revealed that with increase in weight fraction of reinforcement, the tensile strength and flexural strength increased by 14.5 % and 123.65% for 20 % glass reinforced composites over pure epoxy. The numerical results obtained were in good agreement to the experimental results. However increased reinforcement increases the brittleness of material which may results in low impact strength. This study further can be used to optimize the weight fraction of glass fibers, to achieve a combination of strength without compromising the impact strength of composites. © 2013 VBRI press.