Tensile and flexural properties of recycled glass fibre reinforced polyester composite

Abstract

Composite materials are used in a wide range of applications. Unfortunately, composite materials have not been properly recycled, especially in thermoset-based polymer composites. Recycled glass reinforced polyester-polyester composite material from waste material was identified for this study. In the recycling process, the glass fibres were not separated from the polyester matrix, but instead the material was grinded into finely chopped substance which is to be used as reinforcement material for fabricating other composite materials. Compression moulding process was used for fabricating recycled glass fibre reinforced polyester plate. Load-extension and stress-extension curves of fabricated composite materials subject to tensile and flexural loading were produced, and then the mechanical properties of this material were determined experimentally. The effect of loading rate on flexural properties of recycled glass reinforced polyester-polyester materials was studied, and it was found that by increasing the strain rate, the flexural stiffness was increased.