Mechanical properties of glass fiber reinforced polyester resin for use as the wall of the Acehnese boat ‘Thep-Thep’

Abstract

Fiber composites are very commonly used for engineering applications nowadays. The product has begun to enter the field of boat and ship manufacturing. An Acehnese traditional boat known as thep-thep, which has a capacity of 3 GT, is a means of transportation used in Aceh waters. This study focuses on the mechanical properties of the material used for the structure and walls of the thep-thep. Specimens are made from materials with E-glass fiber reinforced polyester resin. The hand lay-up method is used in the process of making the specimens, applied with a pressure of 25 kg/cm2 for 24 hours. This study aimed to obtain higher mechanical properties using composites of layers of chopped strand mat (CSM) fibers and woven roving mat (WRM) fibers with a ratio of 1:0, 1:1, and 2:1, respectively. Tensile testing is done using the ASTM D3039-00 standard. From the tensile test data obtained from several different composite ratios, the highest composite is found at around 49.2 MPa. An increase in the number of fiber layers makes the fiber composites more reliable to be the raw material in the making of the Acehnese boat thep-thep.