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The present paper investigates the tensile and impact properties of bamboo-fibreglass/nano CaCO3 modified unsaturated polyester composites. The investigation focused on the lay-up (configuration) of bamboo dan fibreglass, namely FFBBBFF, FBFBFBF, BBFFFBB and BFBFBFB, which F and B are denoted fibreglass and bamboo fibres/UPR composites, respectively. Nano CaCO3 (3 wt%) was added to the unsaturated polyester. It was found that the hybrid composites with fibreglass layers placed at the outer layer (FFBBBFF) improved the tensile and impact properties higher than those of alternating configurations (FBFBFBF). Hybridization with woven fibreglass also gave a higher improvement than random fibreglass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper investigates the tensile properties of the hybrid of bamboo-coconut fibers (coir)/unsaturated polyester composites. Portland cement has been used to modify the unsaturated polyester matrix with the content variations of 0, 10, and 20 wt%. The content of fibers (bamboo and coir) was kept fixed at 30 vol%, with the bamboo to coir content ratio of 0:30, 12:18, 18:12 and 30:0. It was found that for each filler content, the lowest and highest tensile strength was belonged to coir and bamboo composites, respectively. The tensile strength tended to increase with the increase of bamboo content in the hybrid composites. The elastic modulus also followed the trend of the tensile strength, but it reached the optimum at the bamboo content of 18% for the filled hybrid composites. Coir fiber in the hybrid composites increased the elongation at break due to the coir fiber pulled out, while bamboo fiber improved the stiffness. Adding 10 wt% of Portland cement decreased the tensile strength but improved the stiffness of the hybrid composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to determine the density, water absorption characteristics, tensile strength, edgewise and flatwise compressive strength and bending strength of sandwich composite with opened cell bamboo fiber foam as core. To manufacture opened cell bamboo fiber core, the lengths of bamboo fiber were varied from 10 mm to 40 mm, with an increment of 10 mm. The fiber volume fraction was kept constant at 15% (by volume). Unsaturated polyester was used as a binder of bamboo fibers. Around 3 mm in thickness of plywood was used as skins of the sandwich composite. The physical and mechanical testing were carried out such as density (ASTM C271), water absorption (ASTM C 272), tensile test (ASTM C 297), edgewise compressive test (ASTM C364-99), flatwise compressive test (ASTM C365-05) and bending test (ASTM C392). The results showed that the density of sandwich composite is not associated with fiber length, which is about 0.45 g/cm?. The water absorption capability showed an increase in line with the fiber length. The tensile strength tends to increase in line with the fiber length. The optimum edgewise compressive strength was obtained at the fiber length of 30 mm, however the effect of fiber length on the flatwise compressive strength is insignificant. Up to the fiber length of 20 mm, the bending strength of sandwich composite tends to increase, but then it tends to be flat at fiber length of 20-40 mm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glass fiber reinforced polymer has been widely used in chemical industry and transportation due to lightweight and cost effective manufacturing. However due to the ability to absorb water from the environment, the durability issue is of interest for up to days. This paper investigated the water uptake and the effect of absorbed water on the tensile properties and the translaminar fracture toughness of glass fiber reinforced unsaturated polyester composites (GFRP) aged in distilled and salt water up to 30 days at a temperature of 50°C. It has been shown that GFRP absorbed more water in distilled water than in salt water. In distilled water, the tensile strength of GFRP tends to decrease steeply at 7 days and then slightly recovered for further immersion time. In salt water, the tensile strength tends to decrease continually up to 30 days immersion. The translaminar fracture toughness of GFRP aged in both distilled and salt-water shows the similar behavior. The translaminar fracture toughness increases after 7 days immersion and then tends to decrease beyond that immersion time. In the existence of ionics content in salt water, it causes more detrimental effect on the mechanical properties of fiberglass/unsaturated polyester composites compared to that of distilled water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]