Influence of water immersion on mechanical properties of quasi-isotropic glass fibre reinforced epoxy vinylester resin composites

The effects of water immersion on mechanical properties as flexural strength, interlaminar shear strength and impact energy of aluminium tri-hydrate and polyethylene filled and unfilled quasi-isotropic glass fibre reinforced epoxy vinylester resin composites (GFRP) were investigated. Interlaminar shear strength and flexural strength were obtained with the variation of immersion time (0, 98, 158, 190 and 240 days) and weight percent of filler content (0, 5, 10 and 15). Impact energy was measured only for dry and wet (after conditioning of 240 days) samples as a function of the variation of filler content. Flexural strength, interlaminar shear strength and impact energy increase with increasing filler content in GFRP composites. Immersion in water results in a significant increase of flexural strength, interlaminar shear strength and impact energy, increasing with immersion time. Aluminium tri-hydrate containing GFRP composites show higher values of flexural strength, interlaminar shear strength and impact energy than those of polyethylene filled and unfilled GFRP composites as aluminium tri-hydrate settles around the fibres, thus increasing the toughness.