Effect of sea water environment exposure on glass fiber reinforced polymer composites

Abstract

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.