The mechanical and physical properties of nylon 6/glass fiber-reinforced hybrid composites manufactured by thermal and ultraviolet-cured pultrusion methods

Abstract

In this study, the effect of hybridizing glass fiber-reinforced polymer composites with nylon 6 fibers on the physical and mechanical properties of composites was investigated experimentally. The ultraviolet-cured and thermal pultrusion methods were employed for manufacturing the glass fiber-reinforced polymer and hybrid composite rods containing different volume percentages of nylon 6 fibers at low and high temperatures. The effects of the nylon 6 fibers and the pultrusion methods were investigated on the curing degree, the void content, the diameter expansion, the surface characteristics, and the quasi-static tensile and Charpy impact properties of the composite rods. The ultraviolet-cured hybrid composites showed superior mechanical properties than the thermally cured samples indicating the sensitivity of nylon 6 fibers to high-temperature curing. Moreover, the curing speed of ultraviolet-cured pultrusion was significantly higher than the thermal pultrusion. Delamination and fiber pull-out were the dominant damage mechanisms in the hybrid composites due to the low interfacial strength between the nylon 6 fibers and matrix.