Effect of Various Fillers on Mechanical Properties of Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites: A Review

Abstract

Filler materials are the inert materials which are used in glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) composites for modifying the chemical and physical properties of the matrix polymers to reduce material costs, to improve processability, to improve product performance or to simply act as extenders or matrix diluents. Some of the commonly used fillers are carbon black, calcium carbonate, clay, alumina tri-hydrate, magnesium hydroxide, bone powder, coconut powder, hematite powder, TiO2, SiO2,ZnS, graphite, etc. Effect of these fillers on mechanical properties like tensile strength, flexural strength, inter laminar shear strength (ILSS), tensile modulus, impact strength, hardness were tested by various methods experimentally. Some of the authors also discussed the effect of filler size on the above mechanical properties. KeywordsFillers, glass fiber reinforced polymer composites (GFRP), Mechanical properties Introduction Filler materials are generally the inert materials which are used in composite materials to reduce material costs, to improve mechanical properties to some extent, in some cases to improve processability and to improve product performance. Two or more materials with different material properties are combined together they will form a composite material. Fibers when embedded with weaker matrix materials comprise of strong load carrying capacity.The fibers in the composite materials will improve the mechanical properties such as tensile strength, flexural strength, impact strength, stiffness and matrix will transfer stresses between the reinforcing fibers. Fiber reinforced polymer composites are also called as fibrous composites because they consists of fibers as the reinforcing materials. The applications of composite materials are in automotive, marine, aerospace, etc. because of having properties such as high specific strength and stiffness. The types of composite materials are metal matrix composites, ceramic matrix composites and polymer matrix composites. When the matrix material is taken as ceramic it is called as ceramic matrix composite. The properties of ceramic matrix composites are better toughness, high strength, hardness, high temperature properties and better wear resistance.When the polymer resin is used as a matrix material then it is called as polymer matrix composite. These materials are having properties such as low density, good thermal and electrical insulator, ease of fabrication and low cost. The properties of polymer matrix composites mainly depend upon types of reinforcement that is particles and fibers, the type of polymer used and interface which is used between them. Polymers are classified into thermoplastics and thermosets. Thermoplastic materials are reversible and reshaped by