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For enhancing impact characteristics, woven glass fiber epoxy laminates are reinforced with short fibers. The 6‐mm‐long slender fillers, when added up to 4% in the matrix, exhibit no influence on the flexural modulus, but at 2% they maximize the laminate's flexural strength. While the dissipation energy continues to increase up to 30 J of impact, the laminates' post‐impact load bearing capacity gets significantly affected beyond 20 J. The reinforced laminates exhibit better elastic response and enhanced damage resistance with as high as 50% reduction in the visible damage area as well as up to 35% increase in the damage initiation force. The degree of damage shows excellent correlation with the visible damage area. The distinct through thickness conical region, diverging from the impact site, is attributed to the presence of microcracks oriented along the fiber directions. The cone boundary, from where the interlaminar failure initiates, is largely the manifestation of transverse matrix cracks. While the damage cone with greater divergence indicates reduced impact resistance of the laminate, the orientation of transverse matrix cracks remains unaffected by the impact energy or the filler content. At low impact energies, the failure initiated from the fiber/matrix interfaces, coalesce to form the matrix cracks, which act as a precursor to the interlaminar failure. However, at high energy levels, several failure mechanisms simultaneously develop with no clear indication of the order of damage evolution. The short fibers enhance the laminate's impact resistance either by arresting the cracks or by developing tortuous crack path with high energy dissipation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every day, the need for composite materials grows. The physical and chemical characteristics of the constituent materials inside the hybrid composite impact the final structure. The rate at which these individual properties are sustained varies, but it has an impact on the final properties of hybrid composites. Sporting goods and lightweight orthopaedic components are made from hybrid composites. Glass fibre epoxy and sawdust are utilised to construct hybrid composites in this study, using glass fibre to epoxy resin ratios of (60:40, 60:39, 60:38, 60:37).The current research involves the creation of hybrid composites and their study for flexural and tensile strength under various load conditions. Applying resin and hardener, as well as inserting reinforcement, is repeated in the hand-layup manufacturing process to improve characteristics and create a laminate form. They improve fatigue and fracture resistance while providing dimensional stability and weight savings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilizing recycled or short fibers for making useful engineering composite component is a present research trend and requirement. Current research work explicates the effect of short carbon fibers (SCF) used as secondary reinforcement in woven glass/epoxy hybrid composites and evaluates their mechanical properties. Different concentrations (0.1, 0.3, and 0.5 wt%) of SCF were incorporated to assess the tensile, flexural, and interlaminar fracture toughness (Mode I and II) of the resulted composites. Composites with 0.1 wt% SCF showed 29.02% and 16.08% increment in the tensile and flexural strength, respectively. For Mode I and Mode II interlaminar fracture toughness tests, 0.1 wt% SCF‐GE samples showed the highest strain energy release rate. Double cantilever beam specimens were used for Mode I testing and an improvement of 13.49% in GIC value was observed. End‐notched flexure method was used for the Mode II tests, and 0.1 wt% SCF‐GE samples showed 20.45% increase in GIIC values. This paper explains the various reasons and mechanisms for obtaining such results. Scanning electron microscopy of the fractured surfaces was carried out to perceive the diverse failure micro‐mechanisms that could have been involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to their low density, natural fibers have increasingly found application in the development of systems such as wind turbine blades, airplane wing spar where flexural strength is a strong criterion for material selection. Although different researchers have studied the mechanical properties of such natural fiber composites, none has focused on the optimization of the flexural strength of pineapple leaf fiber (PALF)/glass fiber (GF) reinforced epoxy hybrid composite. This study applied the Taguchi and general regression analysis method in the optimization and modeling of the flexural strength of the PxGyEz composite. Flexural strength of 144.5 MPa at an optimum development parameter of PALF at 20% volume content, GF at 20% volume content, and fiber length of 25 mm. Analysis of variance and regression analysis was also employed to describe and model the flexural behavior of the developed composite. The PALF fiber showed to have a higher contribution to the flexural strength of the material. The equation developed to model the flexural behavior of the material showed a good correlation between the simulated value and the experimental values of the flexural strength at different combinations of manufacturing parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biodegradable and naturally available waste Syzygium cumini particulates filled E‐glass fiber laminate‐reinforced composites were fabricated with different weight percentages. The present work is to develop a new composite from huge waste of S. cumini seeds. The two different combinations of composites with different concentration (10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 wt%) of reinforcement were fabricated through open layup molding techniques. Functional groups, X‐ray diffraction, surface morphology, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and sulphur (CHNS) elemental analysis, and mechanical characteristics (tensile, flexural strength, and hardness) of fabricated composites were evaluated. The maximum tensile strength, flexural strength, and maximum Shore D hardness of the composite were found to be 14.04 ± 0.5 MPa, 1603 ± 0.5 MPa, and 92 ± 0.5 SHN, respectively. By incorporating E‐glass fiber laminate on both sides of the S. cumini particulates filled epoxy composite enhanced mechanical properties compared with S. cumini particulates filled epoxy composites. The results showed that these composites can be utilized as panels for low strength applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon fiber and glass fiber are two dominating reinforcements for polymer composites. Fiber‐reinforced thermoplastics are widely used in many applications. It has a higher growth rate than thermoset composites due to ease in processing and recyclability. Glass fiber has been on the market for 80 years and carbon fiber over 50 years. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of research paper to compare the performance of the two fibers and hybrid. All the studies are from commercially available products. In all those cases, these two fibers are non‐comparable. They have different fiber diameter, size and sizing content, chop length and chopping process. Taiwan Glass Industries, Corp. has cordially provided two experimental chopped strands that match the characteristics of chopped carbon fibers. The first one is for nylon reinforcement and the second one is for polypropylene. Now the glass fiber and carbon fiber have the same fiber diameter (7 microns), same size and sizing content (1%), and same chop length (6 mm). Most importantly, they are produced in identical way (off‐line chop). The only difference between two fibers is silane on glass surface. This is the first of this kind of study. It gives a true comparison of two fibers with identical characteristics. As expected, fiber diameter has the biggest influence in mechanical properties among all fiber characteristics. For nylon, the difference between 7 micron and 10 micron glass fiber is small in tensile and flexural strength. It has bigger difference in impact strength. For polypropylene reinforcement, the fiber diameter of standard polypropylene dispersion (PP) glass fiber is 13 microns; almost double that of carbon fiber. Seven‐micron PP glass actually outperforms PP carbon fiber in composite strengths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wollastonite is a functional filler that has great potential to be used in thermoplastic composites, replacing more expensive reinforcement such as glass fiber. Wollastonite‐reinforced polymer composite materials have attracted the attentions from research field and industries due to their biocompatibility and reinforcing ability in polymers. Due to the relatively high aspect ratio and hardness, wollastonite is able to improve the tensile and flexural strength of polymer composites. Many researches have been conducted to determine various properties of wollastonite reinforced polymer composites such as mechanical, flammability, thermal, and tribological properties in order to explore their potential in various applications. This review will focus on mechanical properties of wollastonite reinforced thermoplastic composites. Overall, it can be concluded that the properties of wollastonite‐filled polymer composites are the function of filler content, adhesion interactions of wollastonite particles with polymer matrix, size and shape of wollastonite particles. Further research and development are needed to widen its application, and these include the use of nano‐size wollastonite which can be produced synthetically as functional filler in thermoplastics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, composites were prepared by Hand lay-up molding. The composites constituents were epoxy resin as the matrix, 3% volume fractions of Glass Fibers (G.F) as re enforcement and 2%, 4%, 6% volume fraction of micro powder (Aluminum Oxide Al2O3, Silicon Oxide SiO2 and Titanium Oxide TiO2) as filler. Studied the, hardness test, flexural strength, density, water absorption measurements and tests were conducted to reveal their values for each type of composite material. The results showed that the non – reinforced epoxy have lower properties than nano composites material. Measured density results had show an incremental increase with volume fraction increase and water absorption, hardness, and flexural strength had show an incremental increase with volume fraction increase and with smaller particle size.

Fiber reinforced polymer composite is an important material for structural application. The diversified application of FRP composite has taken center of attraction for interdisciplinary research. However, improvements on mechanical properties of this class of materials are still under research for different applications. In this paper we have modified the epoxy matrix by Al2O3, SiO2 and TiO2 nano particles in glass fiber/epoxy composite to improve the mechanical and physical properties. The composites are fabricated by hand lay-up method. It is observed that mechanical properties like flexural strength, hardness are more in case of SiO2 modified epoxy composite compare to other nano modifiers, were physical properties like density, water absorption are more in case of TiO2 modified epoxy composite. This may be because of smaller particle size of silica compare to others.

In the present study composites were prepared by Hand lay-up molding. The composites constituents were epoxy resin as the matrix, 6% volume fractions of Glass Fibers (G.F) as reinforcement and 3%, 6% of nature material (Rice Husk Ash, Carrot Powder, and Sawdust) as filler. Density, water absorption, hardness test, flexural strength, shear stress measurements and tests were conducted to reveal their values for each type of composite. True density results had shown an incremental increase with volume fraction increasing and water absorption, hardness, flexural strength and shear stress results had shown an incremental increase with volume fraction increasing with smaller particle size.

In this research, the creation of higher mechanical properties in natural fiber mat composites is proposed. The hybrid jute/glass mat was fabricated by needle-punched system, wherein jute mat was placed on glass mat. The ratio of jute and glass mat layers was set to be 1:0, 1:1, 1:2 and 2:1, respectively. The hand lay-up method was employed to manufacture the composites with unsaturated polyester resin after needle-punched process. Three-point bending test was carried out in order to obtain flexural properties of different composites. The results indicate that flexural strength obtained for jute mat composite (JF) was approximately 37 MPa, whereas high flexural strength was achieved in jute mat/glass mat hybrid composites (JF/GF and JF/JF/GF, when the glass fiber layer is placed as bottom side) that exhibited about respective 61.7 % and 62.0 % higher than the values of JF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Chicken feather fibers (CFFs) have potential application in light weight composites. We investigated the physical properties of epoxy polymer composites reinforced with CFFs and glass fibers. CFFs or hybrid fiber (glass fiber and CFFs) composites reduced the density upto 30-40% when compared with glass fiber reinforced composites. The CFF composites has a storage modulus of about 3.5 GPa and a flexural strength of about 50-80 MPa. The hybrid fiber composite has better mechanical properties than CFF composites while having increased bio-based content. This study demonstrated a new way to utilize CFFs. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016, 133, 44013. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The current work focuses on enhancing the mechanical and thermal properties of sisal fiber reinforced composites that were previously used in developing interior automotive trims. In order to extend their use in other structural applications, two hybrid biocomposites with the combination of sisal (SF) and glass fiber (GF)-SF20/GF10 and SF10/GF20 were blended with polypropylene via extrusion and injection molding process. Critical material properties such as density, fogging, acoustic, mechanical, thermal, and rheological properties were evaluated and results were analyzed using ANOVA. Hybridization of SF and GF enhanced flexural strength and thermal properties of the biocomposites by 33 and 19%, respectively, while no significant change in acoustic, impact and rheological properties were observed. The properties of the hybrid biocomposites were compared with the material specification of a battery tray and it was found that these hybrid biocomposites could be better alternative materials in structural applications. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 42452. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] We suggested a section of a new module that would apply a large section. [•] We developed a new FRP composite girder that is filled with concrete. [•] It was confirmed the composite effect from confining concrete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Gypsum-based composites reinformed with recycled and virgin fibers were produced. • Recycled fibers increase the ductility and maintains the strength of the gypsum plaster. • Virgin fibers increase both the ductility and strength of the gypsum plaster. The concerns on the recyclability of composites are rising. Finding ways to reuse composite materials is fundamental given their huge availability worldwide. However, the intrinsic characteristics of composite materials make it hard to recover their primary constituents. Therefore, the incorporation of these materials after their typical life span into other applications is of great importance towards their circularity and valorisation. In this paper we evaluate the possibility of recycled fiberglass sheets to be used for the creation of gypsum-based composites, aiming at improving the mechanical properties when compared to conventional gypsum. We benchmark the effect of adding recycled fibers against the use of virgin ones. Neat gypsum plaster was used as the matrix and reinforced with both commercial E-glass and recycled fibers. The addition of recycled fibers into the gypsum matrix modified the material behaviour, preventing a purely brittle behaviour, and increasing the flexural strength by 66 % when 6 wt. % was added. The addition of virgin E-glass fibers not only allows for massive plastic deformation of the composite but also increases its flexural strength by nearly 290 % when a mass fraction of 12 wt. % of E-glass was added. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The degree of mechanical reinforcement that can be obtained by the introduction of glass fibers in biofiber (silk fabric)-reinforced epoxy composites has been assessed experimentally. The addition of a relatively small amount of glass fabric to the silk fabric reinforced epoxy matrix enhances the mechanical properties of the resulting hybrid composites. It has also been observed that the properties increase with the increase in the weight fraction of reinforcement content to the maximum extent. The water uptakes of hybrid composites are observed to be less than that of unhybridized composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Timber is one of the materials widely used in construction and industry all over the world. In this paper, the behavior of strengthened timber beams made of beech wood (Fagus orientalis) were investigated experimentally. The composite timber beams were reinforced with flat, U-shaped, and L-shaped pultruded Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) profiles. The GFRPs were attached to tensile or both tensile and compressive surfaces of beams. Altogether, 24 specimens, including 20 strengthened beams and 4 un-strengthened (control) beams, were tested under three-point bending test. Flexural behavior of specimens was evaluated through their load versus mid-span displacement curves, ultimate load carrying capacity, stiffness, displacement ductility, and capacity of energy absorption. The experimental results indicated that the mean value of modulus of rupture, flexural rigidity, ductility, and energy absorption of strengthened beams increased by up to 61, 59, 79, and 209% in comparison to control specimens, respectively. Finally, an analytical calculation has been conducted in order to predict the test data. There was a reasonable agreement between the test results and the results of numerical model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]