Characterization of glass fiber bituminous coal tar reinforced Polymer Matrix Composites for high performance applications

Abstract

Composite materials are better and are used than other conventional structural materials because they offer superior performance, high specific strength and stiffness, excellent fatigue resistance, low weight and design flexibility. These above-mentioned properties have become the winning alliance that impels fibrous composite materials into new arenas. Glass Fiber/Epoxy Polymer Reinforced Plastic composites are widely used over other orthodox engineering materials in the Automobile and Aerospace industry owing to the improved properties. In the present work, an attempt has been made to study the properties of combination of unidirectional E-glass Fibers and carbon reinforced matrix (Bituminous coal tar + Epoxy) with an increase in weight proportions (wt%) of coal tar from 0 wt% till 10 wt%. The properties of cryogenically exposed Glass - Fiber Bituminous carbon coal polymer composites (GBCPC) are studied and compared with that of unexposed. The composites density was found to increase with bituminous coal tar in matrix. The Hardness, Ultimate Tensile Strength and Inter-Laminar Shear Strength of the composites witnessed an increase with greater matrix reinforcement wt% and after cryogenically exposure hardness and ultimate strength have witnessed an increase but Inter-Laminar Shear Strength shows phenomenological behavior, it can be due to micro cracks as well as delamination in the composites due to thermal residual stresses. The sliding wear test was conducted using Taguchi L16 method. The dry sliding wear of the cryogenically exposed specimen displayed higher resistance to wear.