Development of advanced fiber‐reinforced polymer composites by polymer hybridization technique: Emphasis on cure kinetics, mechanical, and thermomechanical performance

Abstract

ABSTRACTPolymer hybridization technique, consisting of an interlayer arrangement of different polymers, acts as the most economical and promising technique in augmenting the glass fiber‐reinforced polymer composite's mechanical properties. This investigation focuses on the effect of cure kinetics on the flexural behavior of glass‐polymer hybrid (GPH) composite, and also elucidates the comparative analysis on the mechanical behavior of glass‐epoxy (GE) composite, glass‐vinyl ester (GVE) composite, and GPH composite. The optimal postcuring temperature has been found to be 200°C for GPH composite among the other postcuring temperatures conducted at 140, 170, and 230°C. Among all these abovementioned composites, highest flexural strength and interlaminar shear strength properties have been recorded by the 200°C postcured GPH composite leading to 10.87 and 18.76% increment, respectively, compared with GE composite. Furthermore, thermomechanical characterization has been done to know the viscoelastic behavior of the GPH composite postcured at different temperatures using dynamic mechanical thermal analysis. The fracture morphology of flexural tested composite samples demonstrated a combination of failure modes. Relevant information on the chemical restructuring and fracture morphology of experimented composite material using Fourier‐transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has also been studied.