Skip to main content
ARS Home » Midwest Area » Peoria, Illinois » National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research » Plant Polymer Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #319710

Research Project: Renewable Biobased Particles

Location: Plant Polymer Research

Title: Effect of fabric structure and polymer matrix on flexural strength, interlaminar shear stress, and energy dissipation of glass fiber-reinforced polymer composites

Author
item PATEL, JIGNESH - Environmental Laboratory, Us Army Engineer Research And Development Center, Waterways Experiment St
item Boddu, Veera
item BRENNER, MATTHEW - Environmental Laboratory, Us Army Engineer Research And Development Center, Waterways Experiment St
item KUMAR, ASHOK - Environmental Laboratory, Us Army Engineer Research And Development Center, Waterways Experiment St

Submitted to: Textile Research Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/9/2015
Publication Date: 8/4/2016
Citation: Patel, J.S., Boddu, V.M., Brenner, M.W., Kumar, A. 2016. Effect of fabric structure and polymer matrix on flexural strength, interlaminar shear stress, and energy dissipation of glass fiber-reinforced polymer composites. Textile Research Journal. 86(2):127-137.

Interpretive Summary: Efforts to infuse bio-based polymers in to building construction industry will generate additional venue for utilization agricultural materials. Development of high strength-to-weight ratio and stiffness-to-weight ratio composites are important to automotive, aircraft, space and military applications. These advanced composites are also suitable for residential and non-residential building envelopes that would withstand extreme conditions such as earth quake, floods, and blasts. Fundamental information related to fabrication, mechanical properties, and durability of the materials will facilitate development of the above potential applications. Developing such value added products will generate additional markets for farm products and income for farmers.

Technical Abstract: We report the effect of glass fiber structure and the epoxy polymer system on the flexural strength, interlaminar shear stress (ILSS), and energy absorption properties of glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) composites. Four different GFRP composites were fabricated from two glass fiber textiles of different fabric count and strand density and two resin systems, a cycloaliphatic and a linear aliphatic system. These composites were fabricated using the vacuum-assisted resin transfer method. The flexural stress and ILSS data were obtained using a three-point bending test following ASTM 790-10 and ASTM D2344/D2344M standards. The GFRP composite sheet fabricated using a larger fabric count showed weak flexural strength as well as poor ILSS properties. However, it showed an average increase in energy dissipation of 95% and 7%, for resins SC780and SC15, respectively, after five compression cycles over the measured range of compression strain. In comparison with the SC15 resin, the SC780 resin proved to have better flexural and ILSS properties but decreased energy dissipation. The results of this investigation help with the design of textile-reinforced composites for applications where bending strength, ILSS, and energy absorption are important.