Effects of gelcoat thickness on mechanical properties of woven glass/polyester laminated composite
In this study, effects of gelcoat thickness on the mechanical properties and interfacial bonding of woven glass/polyester laminated composite are investigated by using three point flexural test and tensile test. The composites had been applied at variance thickness of gelcoat layers (0.25, 0.3, 0.3...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Universiti Malaysia Pahang Publishing
2018-03-01
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| Series: | Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journal.ump.edu.my/jmes/article/view/7884 |
| Summary: | In this study, effects of gelcoat thickness on the mechanical properties and interfacial bonding of woven glass/polyester laminated composite are investigated by using three point flexural test and tensile test. The composites had been applied at variance
thickness of gelcoat layers (0.25, 0.3, 0.35, 0.4, 0.45, and 0.5mm) using hand lay-up method. Samples were measured in two techniques for the flexural test, i.e., coated surface facing the loads (concave) and bare surface facing the loads (convex). Since the
coated surface was concavely bent, greatest increase of flexural strength that acquired 5- fold of increase was shown by composite with 0.3 mm of gelcoat thickness for both measurements. The increasing of thickness to 0.35 mm and above deflated the rising
percentage in flexural strength. This event was happened because of the gelcoat thickness ratio was greater than the matrix/reinforcement ratio. For tensile test, composite applied with gelcoat of 0.4 mm thickness exhibited the highest increase in
strength. An increase of almost 38 % in tensile strength was recorded compared to the uncoated composite. Similarly, the increase in tensile strength reduced slightly when the
gelcoat thickness was increased above 0.4 mm. The results demonstrate that the mechanical properties of the composite improve as the gelcoat thickness increases. However, the mechanical properties show no further improvement as the thickness is further increased above the optimum thickness. |
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| ISSN: | 2289-4659 2231-8380 |