PET interleaving veils for improved fracture toughness of glass fibre/low‐styrene‐emission unsaturated polyester resin composites |
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| Authors: | Kevin Fitzmaurice Dipa Ray Michael A Mccarthy |
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| Affiliation: | Mechanical, Aeronautical and Biomedical Engineering Department, Irish Centre for Composites Research (ICOMP), Materials and Surface Science Institute, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland |
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| Abstract: | The use of interleaved polyethylene terephthalate (PET) veils to increase the interlaminar fracture toughness of glass fiber‐reinforced, low‐styrene emission, unsaturated polyester resin composites, was investigated. PET, being chemically similar to the unsaturated polyester resin, was expected to exhibit good wetting and strong interaction with the matrix. Composite laminates were manufactured by hand lay‐up, with the veil content varying up to 7%. The effects of PET veils on the interlaminar shear strength, flexural strength, flexural modulus, glass transition temperature, damping parameters, and Mode‐I interlaminar fracture toughness of the composite were studied. The veils were found to enhance most of these properties, with only minor negative effects on flexural stiffness and Tg. The PET/resin bonding did indeed prove to be strong, but the enhancement of fracture toughness was not as much as expected, because of the weaker glass/resin interface providing an alternative crack propagation path. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 42877. |
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| Keywords: | composites mechanical properties polyesters thermosets |
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