Response appraisal of aged gfrp Composites

Abstract

A civilization s history is defined by the materials it used. In this respect we can boldly say that composites are changing world we live in, as can be said for stone in the stone-age , to bronze in the bronze age , to iron in the iron age . Some of the specific and special properties of the composites, characteristic to the material, have indeed made it the material of choice concerning many engineering uses. In addition, these are the materials which can be conceived and engineered keeping any specific end-use in mind. In practice, therefore, there are a lot many cases where composites have competed with and replaced many of their metallic counter parts, being accepted as viable alternatives. However, during their service life the composites get exposed to various environmental hindrances like moisture and thermal alterations. The combined deteriorating effects of these agents degrade the material s stiffness and strength. These degradations get much aggravated due to the in-service load. Though, many researchers are working to evaluate the material under varied combinations of external loads and ambient effects its long term properties under such exposures are not fully deciphered. The present investigation, as housed in this thesis titled Response Appraisal of Aged GFRP Composites , is only an attempt towards this end. Hand-laid-up, 12 ply and 18 ply glass-epoxy-resin composite samples are used for the investigation. The investigations are put under four distinct categories. These are Exposure of GFRP composites to outdoors and laboratory ageing processes , Influence of weight fraction reinforcement on response of outdoors aged GFRP composite , Response analysis of seawater immersed GFRP composites under varying Salinity and Strain-rate Conditions and Statistical equations proposed for modelling of ILSS of seawater immersed GFRP composites . newlineIn the first set of investigations the response of the GFRP composite exposed to the outdoors is thoroughly examined, recording and analyzing the effect