HEAT RESISTANT AND TENSILE PROPERTIES OF GLASS FIBER REINFORCED POLYMER COMPOSITES

Abstract

The study focuses on E glass fiber laminate with vinyl ester resin. Two types of fiber glass are used namely chopped strand mat (CSM) and woven roving (WR). The objective of this research is to determine the thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity and Modulus Young of glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) prepared by vacuum bagging resin infusion process. The samples of GFRP were exposed to cooking gas fire for 5 minutes and 10 minutes for fire test. The tensile test was also conducted for the three samples and the microstructure was analyzed using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) after tensile testing.  The result discovered that WR sample was better than CSM sample because CSM sample yield an average value of 0.236 W/mK for thermal conductivity and 521.6 J/KgK for specific heat capacity while WR sample give a value of 0.205 W/mK for thermal conductivity and 589.5 J/KgK for specific heat capacity. The Modulus Young of WR sample is higher (24.2 GPa) compared with CSM sample (16.1 GPa). From SEM micrograph, the failure occurred on the samples were matrix cracking and fibers separation. From the fire and tensile test conducted, the damage occurred on the samples were quite the same with the failure of the reinforcement and matrix. The findings could be used in the building construction as engineers always looking for the best material as they may have the possibilities of fire exposure and tension load as well as this is a part of the safety requirement for buildings.