An Experimental Study of the Influence of Fiber Architecture on the Strength of Polymer Composite Material

Abstract

The study focuses on the influence of fiber architecture (sequence and orientation) on flexural strength of glass fiber reinforced composite material. Composite materials are used increasingly in various fields such as space and aviation industries, architectural structures, shipbuilding materials, sporting goods, and interior and structural materials of automobiles due to the excellence of mechanical characteristics as well as light weight, heat resistance, and control characteristics. The main purpose of this study is to obtain the effects of fiber sequence and orientation to the flexural properties of laminated polymer composite material. Glass fiber reinforced polymer laminates are produced with each laminate consists of four layers of lamina. The matrix used is thermoset polyester with woven roving and chopped strand mat E-glass fiber as reinforcement materials. Each sample is different from another in terms of stacking sequence and orientation angles. Hand lay-up process is used to produce composite laminates and a tungsten carbide jigsaw cutter is used to cut the samples to required dimensions. The experimental work is carried out in accordance to three-point flexure test of ASTM-D790. It is noted from this work that the existence of chopped strand mat had significantly improved the flexural properties of the composite laminates.