Investigation of the relationship between temperature and volume fraction on the mechanical properties of a polymeric composite material.

In this research, the properties of composite materials and the influence of volume fraction and temperature on these properties were studied, samples consisting of polyester as a matrix reinforced by glass fibers were prepared with different volume fractions (10%, 20%, 30%), After that, the mechanical properties of the prepared samples were tested under different temperatures (room temperature, 60 C ˚ and 80 C ˚), the room temperature equal 23 C ˚. From the obtained results from the mechanical tests, the mechanical properties improve and increase with the increasing the volume fraction. It has been found that the hardness and compressive strength decrease when the temperature is increased, while the tensile strength, flexural resistance and impact resistance increase when the temperature is increased to 60 C ˚, but decrease when the temperature is increased to 80 C ˚, and this means that the tensile, flexural and impact resistance increase to a certain extent when increasing temperature, but it starts to drop when this limit is exceeded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]