Mechanical thermal and forming behavior of glass fibre reinforced thermoplastic composites

Abstract

Thermoplastic composites find extensive use in structural and newlineautomotive applications due to their higher specific strength and modulus, newlinehigher strain to failure, recyclability and unlimited shelf life. In particular, the newlinetextile reinforced thermoplastic composites with these excellent features act newlineas competitive materials for metals, alloys and thermoset counterparts. The newlinehigher robustness feature of thermoplastic composites makes them suitable newlinefor crash applications more than thermoset composites. However, the poor newlinewettability, inadequate bonding of matrix over fibre, improper fibre newlineorientations and inappropriate processing techniques are the vital aspects that newlineplace limits on the usage and performance of thermoplastic composite newlinematerials.In this study, screening experiments have been conducted to start newlinewith for selecting a suitable thermoplastic composite material with optimum newlineperformance characteristics. In view of this, the effects of process parameters newlinesuch as fabric structure, fabric orientation and compatibilizer concentration on newlinethe tensile, flexural and impact properties of plain woven glass fibre newlinereinforced thermoplastic composites, were investigated. Two types of glass newlinefabric reinforced composites with two different stacking sequences were newlineprepared using compressing molding. The composites were prepared with and newlinewithout a compatibilizer for the purpose of analyzing interfacial-bonding. The newlinecomposites were investigated in terms of tensile, flexural and impact strength newlinefor evaluation of the effects of process parameters. The factorial approach was newlineintroduced to design the experimental layout newline newline