Monotonic and Low velocity Impact Behavior of Injection Over molded Short Continuous Fiber Reinforced Polypropylene Composites

Abstract

Polypropylene (PP) is one of the widely used thermoplastic in many automotive products because of its low density, high performance/cost ratio and chemical resistance, ease of moldability and good thermal stability Robert et al. (2010); Reis et al. (2011). Further, the short glass fiber reinforced polypropylene (SGFPP) composites are being used for many automotive applications such as under body shields, engine oil pans, fuel tanks, etc. due to their high fracture toughness, good impact strength and excellent specific properties compared with pure PP Karger-Kocsis (1993); Fu et al. (2000); Rana et al. (2003); Puech et al. (2018). However, their utilization in load-bearing structural components is restricted by their low load-bearing capability Kalus et al. (2014). On the contrary, continuous glass fiber reinforced polypropylene composites are widely used in primary load bearing light weight structures owing to their high specific strength and stiffness, damage resistance and toughness Russo et al. (2013). Despite their superior mechanical properties, their applications are limited to simple shell-like geometries due to lack of formability into complex shapes.