Improvement of tensile strength of glass/epoxy multilayer composites by addition of short glass fibers

Abstract

In order to achieve high mechanical performance for glass fiber/epoxy composites, it is necessary to improve the load transfer and surface bonding capabilities at the fiber/matrix interface. In this study, the effect of adding short glass fibers on the tensile strength of glass/epoxy multilayer composites has been investigated. In order to study the effect of the weight percentage of short glass fibers on the tensile strength of composites, multilayer composite samples were made by adding 10 mm long short glass fibers with 6 different weight percentages (1, 3, 5, 7, 10 and 15%). The results showed that increasing the weight percentage of chopped fibers first increases the strength of the composite, and with the addition of chopped fibers more than a certain amount, the tensile strength decreases. Also, the sample reinforced with 3% by weight of chopped fibers with a length of 10 mm (L10-W3) has the highest tensile strength among the samples, and the strength of this sample is 27% higher than the control sample that does not have chopped fibers. In order to investigate the effect of the length of chopped fibers on the tensile strength of composites, composite samples were prepared with the same weight percentage of chopped fibers of 3% and with the length of chopped fibers of 10 mm, 2 mm and ground fibers. The results showed that the sample made of short fibers with a length of 10 mm (sample L10-W3) has the highest tensile strength among the other samples produced.