Dynamic mechanical behavior of LLDPE composites reinforced with kevlar fibers/short glass fibers

Kevlar fibers (DuPont) and glass fibers have been used to reinforce linear lowdensity polyethylene (LLDPE) by using an elastic melt extruder and the compression molding technique. The impact behavior of hybrid composites of different compositions is compared and has been explained on the basis of volume fraction of fibers. The addition of glass fibers decreases the Izod impact strength of LLDPE. The Izod impact strength of the composite increses when glass fibers are replaced by Kevlar fibers. Dynamic mechanical α‐relaxation is studied and the effect of variation of fiber composition on the relaxation is reported in the temperature range from −50°C to 150°C at 1 Hz frequency. The α‐relaxation shifts towards the higher temperature side on addition of fibers in LLDPE. The addition of fibers increases the storage modulus, E′, of LLDPE. The hybridization of Kevlar and glass fibers helps in desiging composites with a desirable combination of impact strength and modulus. At the low temperature region, E′ increases significantly with glass fibers as compared to that noted with the addition of Kevlar fibers. The α‐transition temperature of composites increases significantly with Kevlar fibers as compared to that observed with addition of glass fibers.     

Short‐term effect of distilled water,seawater and temperature on the crushed and interlaminar shear strength of fiber reinforced plastic composites made by the newly proposed rubber pressure molding technique

Fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) composites are used in adverse environmental conditions i.e., variation of temperature, humidity, seawater, acidic water, chemicals, organic fuels, etc. It is important to investigate the crushed and interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) behavior of these composite materials under adverse conditions. This study shows the effect of temperatures, seawater and distilled water on crushed and ILSS of glass fiber reinforced polyester composite panels made by a recently developed process known as rubber pressure molding (RPM) technique over a range of temperature from 0 to 150°C. The fiber volume fraction in the composite varies from 30 to 60%. The RPM technique is based on the matching die set, where the die is made of hard metal like steel and the punch from flexible rubber like materials. The use of flexible rubber punch helps to intensify and uniformly redistribute pressure (both operating pressure and developed hydrostatic pressure due to the flexible rubber punch under compression) on the surface of the complex shaped product. Natural rubber was used to prepare a rubber punch in this investigation. For performance evaluation of FRP composites made by RPM technique, FRP composites were also made by the conventional method and tested at the same temperatures. It is observed that the crushed and ILSS of FRP composites decreases towards higher extreme of the temperature range selected. FRP composites made by RPM technique show higher crushed and ILSS over the temperature range of 0–150°C compared to the FRP composites made by conventional process. Again crushed and ILSS increases with increasing fiber volume% in the composites made by both techniques. In addition to these results the crushed and ILSS decrease with dipping time both in distilled and seawater. POLYM. COMPOS., 2008. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers.     

Melt rheological behavior of intimately mixed short sisal–glass hybrid fiber‐reinforced low‐density polyethylene composites. I. Untreated fibers

The melt rheological behavior of intimately mixed short sisal–glass hybrid fiber‐reinforced low‐density polyethylene composites was studied with an Instron capillary rheometer. The variation of melt viscosity with shear rate and shear stress at different temperatures was studied. The effect of relative composition of component fibers on the overall rheological behavior also was examined. A temperature range of 130 to 150°C and shear rate of 16.4 to 5470 s^?1 were chosen for the analysis. The melt viscosity of the hybrid composite increased with increase in the volume fraction of glass fibers and reached a maximum for the composite containing glass fiber alone. Also, experimental viscosity values of hybrid composites were in good agreement with the theoretical values calculated using the additive rule of hybrid mixtures, except at low volume fractions of glass fibers. Master curves were plotted by superpositioning shear stress and temperature results. The breakage of fibers during the extrusion process, estimated by optical microscopy, was higher for glass fiber than sisal fiber. The surface morphology of the extrudates was analyzed by optical and scanning electron microscopy. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 89: 432–442, 2003     

A dynamic mechanical study on unidirectional carbon fiber-reinforced polypropylene composites

Fiber-reinforced polymer composites show high specific strength and stiffness. The alignment of reinforcing fibers results in anisotropy of the material. This anisotropic behavior has been studied through dynamic mechanical analysis of unidirectional carbon fiber-reinforced polypropylene (CFRPP) composites measured in both parallel and transverse directions to fiber arrangement. Several parameters such as storage modulus (E′), loss modulus (E″), loss factor or damping factor (tan δ), and complex viscosity (MU^*) have been determined over a wide range of frequencies and at a fixed temperature. Relaxation and retardation spectra have been constructed for these composites. Modulus enhancement occurs due to stiffness imparted by the fiber and efficient stress transfer at the interface. Relaxation of the polymer matrix ceases with increase in the volume fraction of the fibers. α′-relaxation is observed for the composite having a 13% volume fraction of fibers and is ascribed to relaxation in the crystalline phase where the additional crystallinity arises out of the transcrystalline growth at the fiber–matrix interface. There exists a good correlation between theroretical curves with the experimental ones. Relaxation and retardation spectra and the dynamic parameters determined for these composites show a good correlation with the volume fraction of fibers as well as the direction of the applied load. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Thermal properties of extruded/injection‐molded poly(lactic acid) and biobased composites

To determine the degree of compatibility between poly(lactic acid) and different biomaterials (fibers), poly(lactic acid) was compounded with sugar beet pulp and apple fibers. The fibers were added in 85 : 15 and 70 : 30 poly(lactic acid)/fiber ratios. The composites were blended by extrusion followed by injection molding. Differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis were used to analyze the extruded and extruded/injection‐molded composites. After melting in sealed differential scanning calorimetry pans, the composites were cooled through immersion in liquid nitrogen and aged (stored) at room temperature for 0, 7, 15, and 30 days. After storage, the samples were heated from 25 to 180°C at 10°C/min. The neat poly(lactic acid) showed a glass‐transition transition at 59°C with a change in heat capacity (ΔC_p) value of 0.464. The glass transition was followed by crystallization and melting transitions. The enthalpic relaxation of the poly(lactic acid) and composites steadily increased as a function of the storage time. Although the presence of fibers had little effect on the enthalpic relaxation, injection molding reduced the enthalpic relaxation. The crystallinity percentage of the unprocessed neat poly(lactic acid) dropped by 95% after extrusion and by 80% for the extruded/injection‐molded composites. The degradation was performed in air and nitrogen environments. The degradation activation energy of neat poly(lactic acid) exhibited a significant drop in the nitrogen environment, although it increased in air. This meant that the poly(lactic acid) was more resistant to degradation in the presence of oxygen. Overall, injection molding appeared to reduce the activation energy for all the composites. Sugar beet pulp significantly reduced the activation energy in a nitrogen environment. In an air environment, both sugar beet pulp and apple fibers increased the activation energy. The enzymatic degradation of the composites showed a higher degradation rate for the extruded samples versus the extruded/injection‐molded composites, whereas the apple composites exhibited higher weight loss. The thermogravimetric analysis data showed that the degradation of unprocessed and extruded neat poly(lactic acid) followed a one‐step mechanism, whereas extruded/injection‐molded composites showed two‐step degradation. A higher fiber content resulted in up to three‐step degradation mechanisms. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2008     

Multifunctional high density polyethylene nanocomposites produced by incorporation of exfoliated graphite nanoplatelets 1: Morphology and mechanical properties

This research explores the potential of using exfoliated graphite nanoplatelets, xGnP, as the reinforcement in high density polyethylene (HDPE). Two kinds of xGnP nanoparticles were used; xGnP‐1 has the thickness of 10 nm and a platelet diameter of 1 μm, whereas xGnP‐15 has the same thickness but the diameter is around 15 μm. HDPE/xGnP nanocomposite were fabricated first by melt blending and then followed by injection molding. The HDPE/xGnP nanocomposite's flexural strength, modulus and impact strength were evaluated and compared with composites filled with commercial reinforcements such as carbon fibers (CF), carbon black (CB) and glass fibers (GF). Polymer nanocomposites from HDPE/xGnP are equivalent in flexural stiffness and strength to HDPE composites reinforced with glass fibers and carbon black but slightly less than that of HDPE/carbon fiber composites at the same volume fraction. However, the Izod impact strength of HDPE/xGnP nanocomposites is significantly greater (∼250%) than all other reinforcements at the same volume fractions. POLYM. COMPOS., 2010. © 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Dynamic mechanical behavior of LCP fiber/glass fiber–reinforced LLDPE composites

Liquid crystalline polymer (LCP) fibers and glass fibers have been used to rein force linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) by using an elastic melt extruder and the compression molding technique. The impact behavior of hybrid composites of different composition is compared and is explained on the basis of the volume frac tion of the fibers. Addition of glass fibers decreases the Izod impact strength LLDPE. The impact strength of the composites increases when glass fibers are placed by LCP fibers. Dynamic mechanical α and β relaxations are studied and effect of variation of fiber composition on these relaxations is reported in the tem perature range from −50 to 150°C at 1 Hz frequency, a relaxation shifts toward higher temperatures with addition of fibers in LLDPE. Addition of fibers increases the storage modulus of LLDPE.     

Bio‐composites for structural applications: Poly‐l‐lactide reinforced with long sisal fiber bundles

Fully bio‐based and biodegradable composites were compression molded from unidirectionally aligned sisal fiber bundles and a polylactide polymer matrix (PLLA). Caustic soda treatment was employed to modify the strength of sisal fibers and to improve fiber to matrix adhesion. Mechanical properties of PLLA/sisal fiber composites improved with caustic soda treatment: the mean flexural strength and modulus increased from 279 MPa and 19.4 GPa respectively to 286 MPa and 22 GPa at a fiber volume fraction of V_f = 0.6. The glass transition temperature decreased with increasing fiber content in composites reinforced with untreated sisal fibers due to interfacial friction. The damping at the caustic soda‐treated fibers‐PLLA interface was reduced due to the presence of transcrystalline morphology at the fiber to matrix interface. It was demonstrated that high strength, high modulus sisal‐PLLA composites can be produced with effective stress transfer at well‐bonded fiber to matrix interfaces. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 40999.     

Effect of glass fibers on rheology,thermal and mechanical properties of recycled PET

PET‐glass fiber composites were prepared by melt mixing of recycled PET with chopped glass fibers (15, 20, and 30 wt%) and their degree of dispersion was assessed by scanning electron microscopy. Rotational rheometry was employed to analyze the interfacial shear strength between the fibers and polymer matrix in the molten state. The composite containing 30 wt% of glass fibers revealed a moderate G′ secondary plateau; hence strong fiber‐matrix interactions were confirmed. Results of mechanical testing were in a good accordance with structural and rheological measurements. The higher rate of mixing under production‐scale conditions resulted in lower fiber‐matrix adhesion and in a similar level of fiber dispersion as compared to the same mixture compounded on pilot‐plant scale. Thermal characterization of the composites was performed by differential scanning calorimetry and total crystalline fraction was analyzed. POLYM. COMPOS., 2008. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Performance enhancement of nylon/kevlar fiber composites through viscoelastically generated pre‐stress

Kevlar‐29 fibers have high strength and stiffness but nylon 6,6 fibers have greater ductility. Thus by commingling these fibers prior to molding in a resin, the resulting hybrid composite may be mechanically superior to the corresponding single fiber‐type composites. The contribution made by viscoelastically generated pre‐stress, via the commingled nylon fibers, should add further performance enhancement. This paper reports on an initial study into the Charpy impact toughness and flexural stiffness of hybrid (commingled) nylon/Kevlar fiber viscoelastically pre‐stressed composites at low fiber volume fractions. The main findings show that (i) hybrid composites (with no pre‐stress) absorb more impact energy than Kevlar fiber‐only composites; (ii) pre‐stress further increases impact energy absorption in the hybrid case by up to 33%; (iii) pre‐stress increases flexural modulus by ∼40% in the hybrid composites. These findings are discussed in relation to practical composite applications. POLYM. COMPOS., 35:931–938, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Moisture uptake and hygroexpansion of wood fiber composite materials with polylactide and polypropylene matrix materials

Effects of butantetracarboxylic acid (BTCA) modification, choice of matrix, and fiber volume fraction on hygroexpansion of wood fiber composites have been investigated. Untreated reference wood fibers and BTCA‐modified fibers were used as reinforcement in composites with matrices composed of polylactic acid (PLA), polypropylene (PP), or a mixture thereof. The crosslinking BTCA modification reduced the out‐of‐plane hygroexpansion of PLA and PLA/PP composites, under water‐immersed and humid conditions, whereas the swelling increased when PP was used as matrix material. This is explained by difficulties for the BTCA‐modified fibers to adhere to the PP matrix. Fiber volume fraction was the most important parameter as regards out‐of‐plane hygroexpansion, with a high‐fiber fraction leading to large hygroexpansion. Fiber‐matrix wettability during processing and consolidation also showed to have a large impact on the dimensional stability and moisture uptake. POLYM. COMPOS., 2009. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Tensile stress relaxation of short‐coir‐fiber‐reinforced natural rubber composites

The stress relaxation behavior of natural rubber (NR) and its composites reinforced with short coir fibers under tension was analyzed. The rate of stress relaxation was a measure of the increase in the entropy of the compounds: the higher the rate was, the greater the entropy was. At lower strain levels, the relaxation mechanism of NR was independent of strain level. However, the rate of relaxation increased with the strain level. Also, the strain level influenced the rate of stress relaxation considerably in the coir‐reinforced NR composites. However, the relaxation mechanisms of both the unfilled compound and the composite were influenced by the strain rate. The rate of relaxation was influenced by fiber loading and fiber orientation. From the rate of stress relaxation, we found that fiber–rubber adhesion was best in the composite containing fibers subjected to a chemical treatment with alkali, toluene diisocyanate, and NR solutions along with a hexaresorcinol system as a bonding agent. In this study, the stress relaxation curves could not be viewed as segments with varying slopes; however, a multitude of inflection points were observed on the curves. Hence, we propose neither a two‐step nor three‐step mechanism for the coir‐fiber‐reinforced NR composites as reported for some other systems. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 94: 96–104, 2004     

Influence of interfacial adhesion on the structural and mechanical behavior of PP‐banana/glass hybrid composites

Hybrid composites of polypropylene (PP), reinforced with short banana and glass fibers were fabricated using Haake torque rheocord followed by compression molding with and without the presence maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (MAPP) as a coupling agent. Incorporation of both fibers into PP matrix resulted in increase of tensile strength, flexural strength, and impact strength upto 30 wt% with an optimum strength observed at 2 wt% MAPP treated 15 wt% banana and 15 wt% glass fiber. The rate of water absorption for the hybrid composites was decreased due to the presence of glass fiber and coupling agent. The effect of fiber loading in presence of coupling agent on the dynamic mechanical properties has been analyzed to investigate the interfacial properties. An increase in storage modulus (E′) of the treated‐composite indicates higher stiffness. The loss tangent (tan δ) spectra confirms a strong influence of fiber loading and coupling agent concentration on the α and β relaxation process of PP. The nature of fiber matrix adhesion was examined through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the tensile fractured specimen. Thermal measurements were carried out through differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), indicated an increase in the crystallization temperature and thermal stability of PP with the incorporation of MAPP‐treated banana and glass fiber. POLYM. COMPOS., 31:1247–1257, 2010. © 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers     

HDPE reinforced with glass fibers: Rheology,tensile properties,stress relaxation,and orientation of fibers

Glass fiber‐reinforced high‐density polyethylene of varying concentrations was mixed with ethylene copolymer and maleic anhydride‐grafted polypropylene (coupling agents) separately. The viscosity, tensile strength, and stress relaxation properties of the composites were investigated. The orientation and anisotropy of glass fibers were studied using micro computed tomography scanner. It was found out that the orientation and anisotropy of fiber are strongly affected by the increase in glass fiber concentration. POLYM. COMPOS., 35:2159–2169, 2014. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Electrospun nano‐scaled glass fiber reinforcement of bis‐GMA/TEGDMA dental composites

The objective of this study was to investigate the electrospun nano‐scaled glass fiber reinforcement of 2,2′‐bis[4‐(methacryloxypropoxy)‐phenyl]‐propane/triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (Bis‐GMA/TEGDMA) dental composites. The hypothesis was that incorporation of the surface‐silanized electrospun nano‐scaled glass fibers into Bis‐GMA/TEGDMA dental composites would result in substantial improvement on mechanical properties. To test the hypothesis, photo‐cured Bis‐GMA/TEGDMA dental composites filled with various mass fractions of surface‐silanized electrospun nano‐scaled glass fibers were systematically fabricated; and their mechanical properties were then evaluated. The results indicated that small mass fraction substitutions (1, 2.5, 5, and 7.5%) of conventional dental filler with the surface‐silanized electrospun nano‐scaled glass fibers, significantly improved the flexural strength, elastic modulus, and work of fracture values of 70% (mass fraction) filled composites, by as much as 44%, 29%, and 66%, respectively. The mechanical properties of the composites could be further improved by optimizing the chemical compositions and the surface treatment methods of the fibers. We envision that the electrospun nano‐scaled glass fibers could be utilized to develop the next generation dental composites, which would be particularly useful for large posterior restorations. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Linear viscoelastic and morphological description of multiphase systems affected by processing parameters

Influence of processing methods, in terms of comparing compression and injection moldings, on the rheological behavior of polycarbonate (PC)/acrylonitrile‐butadiene‐styrene (ABS) blends and PC/ABS/glass fibers composites is presented. Blend compositions and fiber content are considered as material variables. For blends, the effect of the processing route on the viscoelastic functions is evident only for low shearing frequencies. Injection molding created morphology with cocontinuous character, while compression molded blends have “relaxed” structure, where dispersed phase domains are several times larger than in injection molded ones. The glass fiber reinforcement led to the significant differences in viscoelastic properties of composites processed by injection and compression molding. Injected composites have both moduli always higher than compression molded. Also, fiber lengths are reduced more for compressing molding. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011     

Effects of fiber aggregates on the transverse mechanical behavior of commingled PP–glass fiber composites

In previous articles, mechanical models were proposed to predict the reinforcement effect of polymers by particulates as well as unidirectional fibers over wide ranges of volume fraction of fillers and temperatures. On the basis of image analyses and the definition of representative morphological motifs, these models are able to predict the viscoelastic properties of quasi‐isotropic and unidirectional composites or to extract the behavior of a phase, such as the interphase in filled rubbers or the transcrystalline phase in semicrystalline polymers. In this work, based on a 2D image processing, this approach is extended to predict the viscoelastic properties of commingled PP–glass fiber composites. It is shown that fiber aggregates, composed of fibers and surrounding polymer, might be considered as the reinforcing phase. In addition, the different failure modes of these composites are separated as a function of the volume fraction of fillers or temperature. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 99: 3466–3476, 2006     

Influence of inter‐fiber spacing and interfacial adhesion on failure of multi‐fiber model composites: Experiment and numerical analysis

The uniaxial tension experiments on glass‐fiber‐reinforced epoxy matrix composites reveal that the fragmentations of fibers display vertically aligned fracture, clustered fracture, coordinated fracture, and random fracture with the increase of inter‐fiber spacing. The finite element analysis indicates that the fragmentations of fibers displaying different phenomena are due to the stress concentration as well as the inherent randomness of fiber defects, which is the dominant factor. The experimental results show that matrices adjacent to the fiber breakpoints all exhibit birefringent‐whitening patterns for the composites with different interfacial adhesion strengths. The larger the extent of the interfacial debonding, the less the domain of the birefringent‐whitening patterns. The numerical analysis indicates that the orientation of the matrix adjacent to a fiber breakpoint is caused by the interfacial shear stress, resulting in the birefringent‐whitening patterns. The area of shear stress concentrations decides on the domain of the birefringent‐whitening patterns. POLYM. COMPOS., 2008. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers     

FTIR and SEM analysis of polyester‐ and epoxy‐based composites manufactured by VARTM process

Polyester‐ and epoxy‐based composites containing glass and carbon fibers were manufactured using a vacuum‐assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) process. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analyses were conducted to determine the interaction between fibers and matrix material. The results indicate that strong interaction was observed between carbon fiber and epoxy resin. However, weak interactions between remaining fiber‐matrix occur. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis was also performed to take some information about strength of interaction between fibers and matrix material. From SEM micrographs, it is concluded that the findings in SEM analysis support to that obtained in FTIR analysis. Another aim of the present work was to investigate the influence of matrix on composite properties. Hence, the strengths of composites having same reinforcement but different matrix systems in axial tension and transverse tension were compared. Short beam shear test has been conducted to characterize the interfacial strength in the composites. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Water absorption properties of phosphate glass fiber‐reinforced poly‐ϵ‐caprolactone composites for craniofacial bone repair

The moisture uptake of polymers and composites has increasing significance where these materials are specified for invasive, long‐term medical applications. Here we analyze mass gain and the ensuing degradation mechanisms in phosphate glass fiber reinforced poly‐?‐caprolactone laminates. Specimens were manufactured using in situ polymerization of ?‐caprolactone around a bed of phosphate glass fibers. The latter were sized with 3‐aminopropyltriethoxysilane to control the rate of modulus degradation. Fiber content was the main variable in the study, and it was found that the moisture diffusion coefficient increased significantly with increasing fiber volume fraction. Diffusion, plasticization, and leaching of constituents appear to be the dominant aspects of the process over these short‐term tests. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2008