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Glass fiber-reinforced polymer composites - A review

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Glass fiber-reinforced polymer composites − a review

TP Sathishkumar, S Satheeshkumar and J Naveen
Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 2014 33: 1258 originally published online 8 April 2014
DOI: 10.1177/0731684414530790

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Review
Journal of Reinforced Plastics
and Composites

Glass fiber-reinforced polymer 2014, Vol. 33(13) 1258–1275

! The Author(s) 2014
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DOI: 10.1177/0731684414530790
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TP Sathishkumar, S Satheeshkumar and J Naveen

Abstract
Glass fibers reinforced polymer composites have been prepared by various manufacturing technology and are widely
used for various applications. Initially, ancient Egyptians made containers by glass fibers drawn from heat softened glass.
Continues glass fibers were first manufactured in the 1930s for high-temperature electrical application. Nowadays, it has
been used in electronics, aviation and automobile application etc. Glass fibers are having excellent properties like high
strength, flexibility, stiffness and resistance to chemical harm. It may be in the form of roving’s, chopped strand, yarns,
fabrics and mats. Each type of glass fibers have unique properties and are used for various applications in the form of
polymer composites. The mechanical, tribological, thermal, water absorption and vibrational properties of various glass
fiber reinforced polymer composites were reported.

Keywords
Glass fiber, polymer composites, mechanical property, thermal behaviour, vibrational behaviour, water absorption

laid or laminated in the matrix during the composites

Introduction
Composite materials produce a combination properties
of two or more materials that cannot be achieved by
either fiber or matrix when they are acting alone.1
Fiber-reinforced composites were successfully used for
many decades for all engineering applications.2 Glass
fiber-reinforced polymeric (GFRP) composites was
most commonly used in the manufacture of composite
materials. The matrix comprised organic, polyester,
thermostable, vinylester, phenolic and epoxy resins.
Polyester resins are classified into bisphenolic and
ortho or isophtalic.3 The mechanical behaviour of a
fiber-reinforced composite basically depends on the
fiber strength and modulus, the chemical stability,
matrix strength and the interface bonding between the
fiber/matrix to enable stress transfer.4 Suitable compos-
itions and orientation of fibers made desired properties
and functional characteristics of GFRP composites was
equal to steel, had higher stiffness than aluminum and
the specific gravity was one-quarter of the steel.5 The
various GF reinforcements like long longitudinal,
woven mat, chopped fiber (distinct) and chopped mat
in the composites have been produced to enhance the
mechanical and tribological properties of the compos-
ites. The properties of composites depend on the fibers
preparation.6 High cost of polymers was a limiting
factor in their use for commercial applications. Due
to that the use of fillers improved the properties of
composites and ulitimately reduced the cost of the prep-
aration and product.7 Composite materials have wide
range of industrial applications and laminated GF-
reinforced composite materials are used in marine
industry and piping industries because of good envir-
onmental resistance, better damage tolerance for
impact loading, high specific strength and stiffness.8
Polymeric composites were mainly utilized in aircraft
industries such as rudder, elevator, fuselage, landing
gear doors, that is due to light weight, reduction of
higher fatigue resistance in the fasteners and number
of components.9 Polyester matrix-based composites
have been widely used in marine applications; in
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College,
Erode, Tamilnadu, India
Corresponding author:
TP Sathishkumar, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kongu
Engineering College, Erode, Tamilnadu, India.
Email: tpsathish@kongu.ac.in

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Sathishkumar et al. 1259

marine field the water absorption was an important

parameter in degradation of polymer composites.
The different mechanisms were used to identify the
degradation of material such as initiation, propaga-
tion, branching and termination.10 Epoxy resins have
been widely used for above applications that have
high chemical/corrosion resistance properties, low
shrinkage on curing. The capability to be processed
under various conditions and the high level of cross-
linking epoxy resin networks led to brittle material.11
Energy dissipation of composite was important when
they were subjected to vibration environment. Several
factors influenced the energy dissipation of FRP com-
posites such as fiber volume, fiber orientation, matrix
material, temperature, moisture and others like thick-
ness of lamina and thickness of the composites.12 All
polymeric composites have been temperature-depen-
dent mechanical properties. The dynamic stability of
polymer matrix composites like the storage modulus
and damping factors were essential to investigating
under cold and higher temperature.13 Four different
techniques were used for determining the damping
based on time domain and frequency domain meth-
ods. The time domain method was considered in loga-
rithmic decrement analysis and Hilbert transform
analysis. The moving block analysis and half power
bandwidth method were considered in the frequency
method.14 In tribological applications, the composites
were subjected to different conditions such as sliding,
rubbing, rolling against other materials or against
themselves. Load, sliding distance, duration of sliding,
sliding speed and sliding conditions were considered
for calculating the effect of tribological performance.2
Optimum wear rate and coefficient of friction was
found for GFRP matrix with addition of fillers.15
The composite materials have been used for many
tribological applications such as bearing, gears,
wheels and bushes.16 The Figure 1 describes the meth-
odology of the GFRP matrix composites preparation
and characterization, and its application.
Classification of GF
The major classification of GFs and the physical prop-
erties are shown on Figure 2. Also, the chemical com-
positions of GFs in wt% are shown in Table 1. The
physical and mechanical properties of GF are shown
in Table 2.
Preparation of GFRP matrix composites
The GFRP composites were prepared by adopting vari-
ous manufacturing techniques as discussed below. The
preparations of random and woven mat GFs are shown
in Figures 3 and 4.
Preparation of glass fiber reinforced polymer matrix
composites
Mechanical properties of glass fiber reinforced polymer
matrix composites
Vibration behaviours of glass fiber reinforced polymer
matrix composites
Environmental properties of glass fiber reinforced
polymer matrix composites
Thermal properties of glass fiber reinforced polymer
Tribological behaviours of glass fiber reinforced
polymer matrix composites
Application of glass fiber reinforced polymer matrix
composites
Figure 1. Flowchart of the GFRP matrix composites
preparation and characterization.
Silicone rubber mould
Aramide et al.1 prepared the woven-mat GF-
reinforced unsaturated polyester composite using sili-
cone rubber mould. The mould was cleaned and
dried. The mould surface was coated with releasing
agent of hard wax for easy removal of composites.
Initially, unsaturated polyester resin containing curing
additives was applied in the mould surface by using
brush. The GF was placed on the resin and fully
wetted. A steel roller was used to make full wetting of
fiber in resin. A final sealing layer of resin was poured
on the fiber. Over the period of time, the laminated
composite was fully hardened and it was removed
from the mould. The hand file was used to time the
edges of the cured composites plate for obtaining the
final size. The different fiber contents (5% to 30%) were
used to prepare the composites plates.
Hand lay-up method followed by compression
moulding
Erden et al.4 prepared the woven roving mat E-GF/
unmodified and modified polyester matrix composites

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1260 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 33(13)

Classification glass fiber and

physical properties

Classification Physical properties

A glass Higher durability, strength and electric resistivity

C glass Higher Corrosion resistance

D glass Low dielectric constant

E glass Higher strength and electrical resistivity

AR glass Alkali resistance

R glass Higher strength and acid corrosion resistance

S glass Highest tensile strength

S-2 glass High strength, modulus and stability

Figure 2. Classification and physical properties of various glass fibers.

Table 1. Chemical compositions of glass fibers in wt%.

Type (SiO2) (Al2O3) Tio2 B2o3 (CaO) (MgO) Na2O K2o Fe2o3 Ref.

E-glass 55.0 14.0 0.2 7.0 22.0 1.0 0.5 0.3 – 17

C-glass 64.6 4.1 – 5.0 13.4 3.3 9.6 0.5 –
S-glass 65.0 25.0 – – – 10.0 – – –
A-glass 67.5 3.5 – 1.5 6.5 4.5 13.5 3.0 –
D-glass 74.0 – – 22.5 – – 1.5 2.0 –
R-glass 60.0 24.0 – – 9.0 6.0 0.5 0.1 –
EGR-glass 61.0 13.0 – – 22.0 3.0 – 0.5 –
Basalt 52.0 17.2 1.0 – 8.6 5.2 5.0 1.0 5.0

using hand lay-up technique followed by compression
moulding at a pressure of 120 bars at room temperature
for 120 min with 37% fiber volume fraction (Vf) and
3.5 mm thickness of laminates.
Hot press technique
Atas et al.18 prepared the woven mat GF-
reinforced epoxy composites using hot press technique.
Non-orthogonal woven fabric prepared with dimen-
sion of 305 mm  305 mm, an orthogonal fabric was
transformed into non-orthogonal fabric by using shear-
ing process with various weaving angles between fill
and warp. The weight ratio epoxy resin to hardener
was 10:3. The composite panels were cured at 60 C
for 2 h and 93 C for 4 h, during the curing process
0.35 MPa pressure was employed on the laminated
composites.
Aktas et al.19 prepared unidirectional GF-reinforced
epoxy laminates using hot press method. The 65%
weight fraction of laminates fabricated in two different
stacking sequences like [0 /90 /0 /90 ] and [0 /90 /

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Sathishkumar et al. 1261

Table 2. Physical and mechanical properties of glass fiber.

Tensile Young’s Coefficient of

Density strength modulus thermal expansion Poison’s Refractive
Fiber (g/cm3) GPa (GPa) Elongation (%) (107/ C) ratio index Ref.

E-glass 2.58 3.445 72.3 4.8 54 0.2 1.558 17

C-glass 2.52 3.310 68.9 4.8 63 – 1.533
S2-glass 2.46 4.890 86.9 5.7 16 0.22 1.521
A-glass 2.44 3.310 68.9 4.8 73 – 1.538
D-glass 2.11–2.14 2.415 51.7 4.6 25 – 1.465
R-glass 2.54 4.135 85.5 4.8 33 – 1.546
EGR-glass 2.72 3.445 80.3 4.8 59 – 1.579
AR glass 2.70 3.241 73.1 4.4 65 – 1.562

dimension of 154  78  12 mm. The fiber and matrix

were transferred to the mould and that was allowed to
cure at room temperature for 24 h.
Kajorncheappunngam et al.20 socked 30 cm square
lamina of E-glass fabric in the epoxy resin and was
cured in between the two Teflon-coated layer of
0.32 cm thickness. The roller was used to remove the
excess resin and leave for 3 days curing. The cured
composites was post-cured 3 h at atmospheric on
60 C in an oven. The resulting composite was of
1.5 mm thickness with 47% weight fraction.

Figure 3. Preparation of glass fiber woven mat.
+45 /45 ], CY225 epoxy resin and HY225 hardener
were mixed, the mixture and 509 g/m2 of GF compos-
ition cured into hot press technique under constant
pressure of 15 MPa and temperature 120 C for 2 h,
the fabricated composite plate thickness was 3 mm.
Mixing and moulding
Gupta et al.7 prepared the discontinuous E-GF-rein-
forced epoxy composites with addition of filler-like
flyash. The diameter of GF was 10 mm and cut into
2.54 cm length for composite preparation. The ratio
of epoxy resin and hardener mixed is around 100:10.
The two different concentrations of flyash filler were
selected as 2.5 and 5% vol%, along with calcium car-
bonate fillers added during the mixing of resin and
hardner. Small size and spherical shape of the flyash
particles facilitate their good mixing and wetting of
fiber and matrix. The mould was prepared with
Compression moulding
Hameed et al.11 prepared the chopped stand mat E-
GF-reinforced modified epoxy composite using com-
pression moulding technique with various fiber Vfs
(10% to 60%). Fiber mats were cut in to size and
heated in an air oven at 150 C to make it moisture
free. The hardner was mixed in epoxy resin. Pre-
weighted fiber mat and resin were used to get 3 mm
thickness of composite. The laminates was compressed
in mould and cured at 180 C for 3 h. The cured com-
posite was post cured at 200 C for 2 h and then cooled
slowly to room temperature for obtained final
composites.
Hand lay-up method followed by hydraulic press
Suresha et al.21 prepared woven mat GF-reinforced
epoxy composite using hand lay-up method. The
epoxy resin was mixed with the hardener in the
weight ratio of 100:12. The resin and fibers were
mixed to make 3 mm thickness of sample with applica-
tion of hydraulic press of 0.5 MPa. The specimen was
allowed to cure for a day at room temperature. After
de-molding, the post curing was done at 120 C for 2 h
using an electrical oven. The prepared laminate size was
250 mm  250 mm  3 mm.

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1262
Figure 4. Woven and random glass fiber mat.
Dry hand lay-up method
Suresha et al.22 prepared the woven fabric GF-
reinforced vinyl ester composites using dry hand
lay-up technique and the individual fiber diameter
was 8–12 mm. The resin was mixed into Methyl ethyl
ketone peroxide (MEKP) as catalyst, cobalt naphtha-
nate as accelerator and, N-dimethyl aniline as promoter
used, vinyl ester resin, cobalt naphthanate and MEKP
were mixed the weight ratio of 1: 0.015: 0.015. Two
different fillers are mixed into resin such as 50 mm of
graphite and 25 mm size of silicon carbide (SiC), The
woven mat stacking one above other and the mixure
of resin spreaded over the fabrics by dry hand lay-up
moulding, and the whole die assembly compressed at
constant pressure 0.5 MPa of by using hydraulic press.
The prepared slabs size was 250 mm  250 mm  3 mm.
H-type press
Mohan et al.23 prepared oil cake-filled woven fabric
GF-reinforced epoxy composites with the individual
fiber diameter 18 mm. The magnetic stirrer was used
to mix the epoxy resin and hardner with the weight
ratio of 100:38. Above the prepared mat the resin mix-
ture was applied using roller and brush and the lamin-
ate was cured under the pressure of 0.0965 MPa
for 24 h by using h-type press, after the moulding pro-
cess the post curing was conducted at 100 C for 3 h.
The prepared laminated size was 300 mm  300 mm
 9 2.6 mm.
Mechanical properties of GFRP matrix
composites
Aramide et al.1 investigated the mechanical properties
of woven-mat GF-reinforced unsaturated polyester
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Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 33(13)
composite with different fiber Vfs like 5, 10, 15, 20, 25
and 30%. The tensile strength, Young’s modulus and
elastic strain increased with increase of the GF Vf.
Impact strength decreased with increase of the GF Vf
of 25%. The maximum tensile and flexural properties
were found at 30% Vf of GF as shown in Table 3. The
maximum strain was found at 25% Vf.
Erden et al.4 investigated the mechanical behaviour
of woven roving E-GF-reinforced unsaturated polyes-
ter composites with matrix modification technique.
The oligomeric siloxane was added to polyester resin
in different levels like 1, 2, and 3 Wt% respectively.
Incorporation of oligomeric siloxane into the polyester
resin increased the mechanical properties such as inter-
laminar shear, flexural and tensile strength, modulus of
elasticity and vibration values. Glass/polyester with
3 wt% of oligomeric siloxane composite was found
to be better mechanical properties compare to other
combinations. The tensile strength increased from
341.5 to 395.8 MPa while the. Flexural Strength
increased from 346.1 MPa to 399.4 MPa, Interlaminar
Shear strength increased from 25.5 to 44.7 MPa, nat-
ural frequency increased from 6.10 to 7.87 Hz as shown
in Table 3.
Al-alkawi et al.24 investigated the fatigue behaviour
of woven strand mats E-GF-reinforced polyester com-
posites under variable temperature conditions such as
40 C, 50 C and 60 C. The S-N curve reported that the
tensile and fatigue strength decreased with increasing
temperature up to 60 C at 33% fiber Vf. The percentage
reduction factor for fatigue strength was higher than
the percentage reduction factor for tensile strength for
all temperature level.
Awan et al.5 investigated the tensile properties of
GF-reinforced unsaturated polyester composite with
various cross sections of fibers at various ply of 1-ply,
2-ply and 3-ply sheets. The higher weight percentage of
 Table 3. Mechanical properties of glass fiber-reinforced polymeric (GFRP) composites.
Interlaminar
Tensile Tensile Flexural Flexural shear
Type of glass Strength modulus Elongation strength modulus Impact strength
fiber Resin Curing agent Vf Testing Standard (MPa) (MPa) at break (%) (MPa) (MPa) strength (MPa) Ref.
Sathishkumar et al.

Woven mat Polyester MEKP/Cobalt 0.25 ASTM D412 (T) 1.601 80.5 20.0 – – 41.850 (J) – 1
Woven mat Polyester with (3% naphthalene 0.37 ASTM D-3039 (T), 395.8 18000 3.9 399.4 18800 – 44.7 4
oligomeric ASTM D 790 (F),
siloxane ASTM D 2344 (S)
Woven mat Polyester 0.33 ASTM D 638-97 (T), 249 6240 – – – – – 24
Woven mat Polyester – 2810 E6 (T) 189.0 – – – – – – 5
Chopped strand Polyamide66 0.30 GB/T 16,421–1996 (T), – 124 – 159 – 98.2 (kJ/m2) – 25
(PA66)/poly- GB/T 16,419–1996 (F),
phenylene sul- GB/T 16,420 –1996 (I)
phide (PPS)
blend
Woven mat Isophthalic/neo- 0.42 PS25C-0118 (T) 200 – – – – 10(J) – 26
[0 /90 ] pentyl glycol
polyester
Woven mat (Non- Polyester – 362 F (BS, 1997) (T) 220 7000 0.055 – – – – 8
symmetric)
Woven Polyurethanes 0.49 ASTM D3039 (T), 278 18654 – 444 27075 – 27 27
ASTM D790M (F),
ASTM D2344 (S)
Chopped strand Polyester 0.60 ASTM D638 (T) 250 325 0.022 – – – – 9
mat

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Woven mat Polyester (acid – ASTM D 2344 (S) – – – – – – 30 28
resistant resin)
Chopped strand Polyester resin 0.015 ASTM E 399 (T) – 3000 – 16.5 – – – 29
mat
Chopped Polyester – ASTM D 3039 (T), 103.4719 – – – – 37.926 (J) – 6
strand + verti- ASTM D 5379 (I)
cal roving
Virgin fiber Polyester ASTM D256 (T), 64.4 7200 1.8 – – 645.1 (J/m) – 30
ASTM D2240 (I)
Glass Polyester (3 wt% 0.40 ASTM- D638 (T), 130.03 – – 206.15 – 153.50 (KJ/m2) – 31
Na-MMT) ASTM- D790 (F),
ASTM- D256 (I)
Chopped strand Epoxy (5.1 Vf Hardener 3.98 ASTM standard – – – – – 0.017.6 (J/mm2) – 7
flyash)
Woven (biaxial epoxy 0.57 ASTM D 2355 (S) – – – – – – 18.2 32
stitch)
(continued)
1263
1264 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 33(13)

Ref.
GF in composites gives stronger reinforcement. The

33

34

35
23
36
number of layers, thickness and the cross sectional
Interlaminar

area was different for each specimen. Maximum tensile

strength

strength observed in three ply reinforcement (Table 3).

(MPa)

18.99

41.46
shear

Higher Vf of fibers increased the strength and stiffness

–
–
–
of the composite.
Chen et al.25 investigated the mechanical properties
of polyamide66 (pellets)/polyphenylene sulfide blend
strength

1.840(J)

matrix with different GF volume contents such as

Impact

5%, 10%, 20% and 30% respectively. The maximum

–

–
–
–
tensile strength was found at 30% Vf of fiber and flex-
modulus

ural strength was found at 25% Vf. The maximum

Flexural

T: Tensile test; F: Flexural test; I: Impact test; S: Shear test; Joc: Jatropha oil cake; Na-MMT: sodium montmorillonite; MWCNT: Multiwalled carbon nanotube.
(MPa)

impact strength was found at 0% Vf of fiber com-

–

–
–
–

pare to fiber incorporated composites. But the max-

imum impact strength was found at 20% Vf of
strength
Flexural

297.82
(MPa)

fiber that was lower the above. In wear testing, the

minimum frication coefficient (0.35) was found at
–

–
–
–

20% Vf of fiber and wear volume was lower at 30%

at break (%)
Elongation

Vf of fiber.
Yuanjian et al.26 investigated the low-velocity
0.032

1.65
3.8

impact and tension–tension fatigue properties of GF-

–

reinforced polyester composites with two fiber geome-

modulus

tries like [45 ] at 42% Wf of fiber and [0 /90 ] at 47%

Tensile

18610
43700
(MPa)

6700

Wf of fiber. The result showed that the residual tensile

–

strength and stiffness decreased with increasing impact

Strength

energy from 0 to 25 J at 5 J increments. The maximum

Tensile

784.98
(MPa)

179.4

properties were sustained up to 10 J test and the above

311
355
–

properties were highly reduced due to increasing the

testing energy from 10 to 20 J. The impact damage
ASTM D 3039-76 (T),

was similar for the two geometries. Low-impact

ASTM D 3039 (T)
ASTM D 2344 (S)

ASTM D3039 (T)

energy of GF-reinforced composites cause of matrix

Testing Standard

ASTM D 256 (I)

damage. The tension-tension fatigue failure test was

performed at various impact damage energies of 1.4 J,
5 J and 10 J respectively. In the S-N curve the fatigue
lifetimes was slowly decreased and higher at 1.4 J with
–

higher stress at [0 /90 ] and at [45 ]4, the fatigue life-
0.55
0.73

0.60

times was suddenly dropped and found lower stress

0.5
Vf

value compared to doped [0 /90 ].

Faizal et al.8 investigated the tensile behaviour of
plane woven E-GF-reinforced polyester composite
Curing agent

with different curing pressure like 35.8 kg/m2, 70.1 kg/

m2, 104 kg/m2 and 138.2 kg/m2. Different lay-up like
symmetrical and non-symmetrical was used to prepare
the composites. The stress-strain curve showed that the
Epoxy (6 wt% joc)

tensile modulus was decreased with increasing curing

Epoxy (0.5 wt%
Epoxy (10 wt%

MWCNTs)

pressure for both symmetrical and non-symmetrical

lay-up. The symmetrical lay-up was less on the stiffness
SiC)

Epoxy

Epoxy

of composites. The ductility increased with increasing

Resin

curing pressure for non-symmetrical arrangement and

Table 3. Continued.

symmetrical arrangement decreased.

Husic et al.27 investigated the mechanical properties
Woven + (35 wt%

borosilicate)
Unidirectional

of untreated E-glass-reinforced polyurethane compos-

Type of glass

oriented
Randomly

ites with two polyurethanes like soypolyol and petro-

short
Woven

Woven

chemical polyol Jeffol resin. The result showed that the

fiber

soypolyol based composite was lower flexural, tensile

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Sathishkumar et al.
and inter laminar shear strength compare to petro-
chemical polyol Jeffol-based composite. This was due
to lower cross linking density and the presence of the
side dangling chains in the matrix. The interlaminar
shear strength was similar for both for two resin
composites.
Atas et al.18 investigated the Impact response of
woven mat GF-reinforced epoxy composites with
orthogonal fabric and non-orthogonal fabric of a weav-
ing angle of 20 , 30 , 45 , 60 75 and 90 respectively
from vertical direction (warp direction). The energy
absorption increased with decrease of weaving angle
between interlacing yarns. Woven composites with
smaller weaving angle of 20 and 30 between interla-
cing yarns, have lower peak force, larger contact dur-
ation, larger deflection and higher absorbed energy
than larger weaving angle of 60 , 75 and 90 . The [0/
20 ] woven composite was absorbed higher compared
to [0/90 ] woven composite.
Leonard et al.9 investigated the fracture behaviour of
chopped strand mat GF-reinforced polyester (CGRP)
matrix composites with different Vf of fibers like 12%,
24%, 36%, 48% and 60%. The stress–strain curve
reported that 60% Vf of GF composite obtained max-
imum improvement of tensile strength of 325 MPa,
Young’s modulus of 13.9 GPa, fracture toughness of
20-fold and critical energy release rate of 1200-fold.
Putic et al.28 investigated the interlaminar shear
strength of the random/woven GF mat-reinforced poly-
ester matrix composite with three-layer and eight com-
binations of the composition patterns. The glass fabric
with various densities, various polyester resins like
bisphenolic resin, water-resistant resin and acid-resis-
tant resin were used to analyse the strength. Outer
layers were short GF and inner layers were woven
mat fiber and thickness of outer layers 1 mm, middle
layer 0.5–0.8 mm. The P6 [Glass mat (240 g/m2)/woven
mat (0/90 ) (800 g/m2)/Glass mat (240 g/m2)] pattern
model bisphenolic resin-based composites had higher
interlaminar shear strength compared to other patterns.
Avci et al.29 used three-point bending tests and
investigated the Mode I fracture behaviour of chopped
strand GF-reinforced particle-filled polymer compos-
ites with varying notch-to-depth ratios (a/b ratios
0.38, 0.50, 0.55, 0.60 and 0.76). The two different Vf
of GF like 1% and 1.5% with various Vf of polyester
resins like 13.00%, 14.75%, 16.50%, 18.00% and
19.50% were used for the experiments. In 0% Vf of
GF the maximum flexural modulus was found at
16.50% Vf of polyester, in 1% Vf of GF was found at
18.00% and in 1.5% Vf of GF was found at 19.50% Vf.
A similar trend was found in flexural strength.
The stress intensity factor (KIC) was found by using
three methods like (1) Initial notch-depth method, (2)
Compliance method and (3) J-integral method. In
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1265
initial notch-depth method and compliance method,
the GF content increased the KIC values for all polymer
content. The lower KIC values were found at 0% grass
fiber content. The maximum J-integral energy was
found at the 0.6 notch-to-depth ratio.
Alam et al.6 investigated the effect of orientation of
chopped strand and roving GFRP composites with dif-
ferent fiber orientation such as 0 , 45 and 90 . Fiber
orientation was not affected by the density and hard-
ness of composites. At 90 fiber orientation the maxi-
mum tensile strength was obtained. The short fiber was
found to be reducing the impact strength.
Shyr et al.37 investigated the impact resistance and
damage characteristics of E-GF-reinforced polyester
composite with various thicknesses of the laminates
and three different glass fabrics were multiaxial warp-
knit blanket (MWK), woven fabric (W) and non-woven
mat (N). Impact tests were conducted using a guided
drop-weight test rig. The composites were prepared
with various layers with various Vfs of fiber like 24
(sample code of N-13a, b and c), 28(sample code of
N-7a, b and c), 40 (sample code of R-800-13a, b and
c), 40 (sample code of R800-7a, b and c), 37 (sample
code of M-800-13a, b and c), 40 (sample code of M-
800-13a, b and c), 45 (sample code of MWK-800-13a, b
and c) and 46 (sample code of MWK-800-13a, b and c).
In code, 7 and 13 were the no of layers in the compos-
ites with a, b and c the 8, 16 and 24 nominal impact
energies (NIE), respectively. The test was conducted at
various velocity of drop weight. The maximum
Hertzian failure force of the laminates was found for
MWK-13 laminate in 16 NIE. The maximum Hertzian
failure energy of the laminates at various NIE was
found for M-80013 in 24 NIE. The major damage
energy at maximum impact load was found for
MWK-13 laminate in 16 NIE. The maximum subjected
energy and final absorbed energies of the impenetrated
laminates at various NIE were found for MWK-13
laminate at 24 NIE.
Araujo et al.30 investigated the mechanical proper-
ties GF/virgin GF wastes-reinforced polyester matrix
composites with various fiber weight content of fiber
like 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60%, respectively. The polyes-
ter/virgin GF-reinforced composite showed higher ten-
sile strength and modulus at 40% Wf. The maximum
impact strength and hardness were found at 40 and
40% Wf.
Hossain et al.38 investigated the flexural and com-
pression properties of woven E-GF-reinforced polyes-
ter matrix composites with addition of various weight
percentages of carbon nano filler (CNF). The test was
performed on the conventional and 0.1, 02, 03 and
0.4 wt% CNF-filled composites. The stress versus
strain curve showed that 0.2 wt% of CNF-filled com-
posite obtained maximum mechanical properties. This
1266
was due to excellent dispersion, maximum enhance-
ment in compressive strength, modulus and better inter-
facial interaction between fiber and matrix.
Khelifa et al.39 investigated the fatigue behaviour of
E-GF-reinforced unsaturated polyester composite with
different orientation of fiber (0 ,  45 , 0 /90 ).
Experimental and theoretical results reported that the
unidirectional [0 ] and cross-ply [0/90 ] composite
laminates had more static bending strength compared
to other laminated composites.
Baucom et al.40 investigated the low-velocity impact
damage of woven E-glass-reinforced vinyl-ester com-
posites with various laminates like 2D plain-woven
laminate, a 3D orthogonally woven monolith and a
biaxial reinforced warp-knit. Drop-weight apparatus
result showed that the 3D composites was more resist-
ant to penetration and dissipated more total energy
(140 J) compared to other systems.
Iba et al.41 investigated the mechanical properties of
unidirectional continuous GF-reinforced epoxy com-
posites with three fiber diameters like 18, 37, 50 mm,
respectively, and fiber Vf from 0.25 to 0.45. The
stress–strain curve reported that the longitudinal
Young’s modulus and tensile strength of the composite
increased with increasing the fiber Vf and the mean
strength increased with decreasing the fiber diameter.
The maximum strength and modulus was higher for the
fiber diameter of 18 mm at 0.45 Vf.
Ya’acob et al.42 investigated the mechanical proper-
ties of E-GF-reinforced polypropylene composites pre-
pared using injection moulding and compression
moulding processes. Results show that the tensile
strength decreased with the increasing of GF content.
The tensile modulus increased with increasing the fiber
content and the maximum values were obtained at
12-mm fiber length composites compared to 3 and
6 mm fiber-length composites.
Mohbe et al.31 investigated the mechanical beha-
viour of glass fiber reinforced polyester composites
with constant volume fraction of glass and Na-MMT
(sodium montmorillonite). Mechanical properties were
improved with increase in the Na-MMT quantity in
composites; 3% weight of Na-MMT was found
to have maximum tensile strength (130.03 MPa),
impact strength (153.50 kJ/m2) and flexural strength
(205.152 MPa).
Gupta et al.7 investigated the compressive and
impact behaviour of discontinuous E-GF-
reinforced epoxy composites with addition of fillers
such as fly ash and calcium carbonate. Fly ash particles
led to reduced compressive and impact strength of the
composites compared to the calcium carbonate filler in
the composites. The aspect ratio of the fiber increased
the compressive strength and decreased the impact
strength.
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Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 33(13)
Pardo et al.43 investigated the tensile dynamic behav-
iour of a quasi-unidirectional E-glass/polyester com-
posite. This composite was not a pure unidirectional
material; it was composed of 5% Vf of weft fibers.
The weft fibers Vf of 5% observed greater Young’s
modulus and improved the failure stress (40 MPa).
Yang et al.32 investigated the compression, bending
and shear behaviour of woven mat E-GF-reinforced
epoxy composites with different fabrics like unstitched
plain weave, biaxial non-crimp and uniaxial stitched
plain weave fabrics. From the experiments they have
concluded that the Z-directional stitching fibers
increased the delamination resistance, reduced the
impact damage and as well as lowered the bending
strength of the composites. The compressive strength
of the non-crimp laminate was 15% higher than
woven fabric composite.
Hameed et al.44 investigated the dynamic mechanical
behaviour of E-GF-reinforced poly (styrene-co-acrylo-
nitrile)-modified epoxy matrix composites with the dif-
ferent Vfs of fibers ranging from 10% to 60%. Under
three-point bending mode the viscoelastic properties
were measured at the frequency of 1 Hz and samples
were heated up to 250 C at the heating rate of 1 C/min.
While increasing the temperature the storage modulus
decreases. Storage modulus versus temperature curve
reported that the 50 vol% fiber content of composites
had the maximum storage modulus (15.606 GPa). Loss
modulus versus temperature plot indicated that the loss
modulus increased up to 50 vol% fiber content. Further
increase in the fiber content decreases the loss modulus.
Aktas et al.19 investigated the impact response uni-
directional E-GF-reinforced epoxy matrix composite
with two different stacking sequences such as [0/90/0/
90] and [0/90/+45/45]. Damage process and damage
modes of laminates were investigated under varying
impact energies ranging from 5 J to 80 J. The penetra-
tion threshold for stacking sequence [0/90/+45/45]
was smaller than [0/90/0/90] and the mismatch coeffi-
cient for [0/90/0/90] laminates were higher than [0/90/
+45/45] laminates.
Aktas et al.45 investigated compression after impact
(CAI) behaviour of unidirectional
E-GF-reinforced epoxy matrix composite subjected to
low-velocity impact energy for various temperatures
such as 40 C, 60 C, 80 C and 100 C. Two stacking
sequences [0 /90 /0 /90 ] and [0 /90 /45 /45 ] were
tested to investigate the vertical and horizontal orien-
tation effects on CAI strength and CAI damage mech-
anism. CAI strength decreases with increase in
temperature and impact energy. The maximum reduc-
tion in CAI strength was found between undamaged
specimen and impacted specimen at 100 C and 70 J
for each stacking sequences and each impact damage
orientation. The CAI strength of horizontal impact
Sathishkumar et al.
damage was lower than vertical impact damage for all
impact test temperatures and all energy levels.
Aktas et al.46 investigated the impact and post-
impact behaviour of E-glass/epoxy eight plies lami-
nated composites with different knitted fabrics such as
Plain, Milano and Rib. Different impact energy levels
were ranging from 5 J to 25 J. The experimental result
showed that the Rib knitted structure had maximum
mechanical properties for irregular fiber architecture,
Milano knitted structure showed maximum perform-
ance in transverse direction and as well as better mech-
anical properties than Plain knitted structure.
Patnaik et al.33 investigated the mechanical behav-
iour of randomly oriented E-GF-reinforced epoxy com-
posites with particulate filled like Al2O3, SiC and pine
bark dust and the different composition of specimen
were prepared such as GF (50 wt%) +epoxy
(50 wt%), GF (50 wt%) +epoxy (40 wt%) +alumina
(10 wt%), GF (50 wt%) +epoxy (40 wt%) +pine
bark dust (10 wt%), GF (50 wt%) + epoxy
(40 wt%) + SiC (10 wt%). The test result showed that
the GF + epoxy had maximum tensile strength
(249.6 MPa) and flexural strength (368 MPa) than
other compositions, GF + epoxy + pine bark dust
combination having the maximum interlaminar shear
strength (23.46 MPa), GF + epoxy + SiC combination
having higher impact strength (1.840 J) and higher
hardness (42 Hv).
Karakuzu et al.47 investigated the impact behaviour
of unidirectional E-glass/epoxy composite plates with
the stacking sequence of plates selected as [0 /30 /60 /
90 ]. Four different impact energies were 10 J, 20 J,
30 J and 40 J and four impact masses were selected
like 5 kg, 10 kg, 15 kg and 20 kg. Absorbed energy
versus impact energy curve reported that the energy
absorption capability of the specimen subjected to
equal mass was lower than the specimen subjected to
equal velocity for the same impact energy.
Delamination area versus impactor mass curve
reported that the delamination area in the sample
was subjected to a lower impact mass with higher vel-
ocity was lower than the delamination area in the
sample was subjected to higher impact mass with
lower velocity for same impact energy.
Icten et al.48 investigated the low temperature effect
on impact response of quasi-isotropic unidirectional E-
GF-reinforced epoxy matrix composites with stacking
sequence [0 /90 /45 /45 ] tested at varied impact
energies ranging from 5 J to 70 J and the test were per-
formed at different temperatures such as 20 C, 20 C
and 60 C. The experimental result showed that the
damage tolerance and impact response of the composite
was same for all temperatures up to the impact energy
of 20 J and after 20 J of impact energy, the temperature
affects the impact characteristics.
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1267
Liu et al.34 investigated interlaminar shear strength
of woven E-GF-reinforced/epoxy composites with
unmodified and modified matrix modification tech-
nique. Initial epoxy matrix was diglycidyl ether of
bisphenol-F/diethyl toluene diamine system and modi-
fied matrix was multiwalled carbon nanotubes
(MWCNT) and reactive aliphatic diluent named
n-butyl glycidyl ether system. The three point bending
test result showed that the modified epoxy/GF compos-
ite inter-laminar shear strength was higher than the
unmodified epoxy/GF composite; 0.5 wt% MWCNTs
and 10 phr butyl glycidyl ether (BGE) adding epoxy/
GF composite was 25.4% increased the inter laminar
shear strength (41.46 MPa) than unmodified
composites.
Belingardi et al.49 investigated the low-velocity
impact tests of woven and unidirectional GF-reinforced
epoxy matrix composite with three different stacking
sequences [0 /90 ], [0 /+60 /60 ] and [0 /+45 /
45 ]. Different impact velocities were (0.70, 0.99,
1.14, 1.72, 1.85, 1.98, 2.10, 2.22 and 2.42 m/s) and dif-
ferent deformation rate (25, 50, 100, 150, 175, 200, 225,
250 and 300 mm). The experimental result showed that
the maximum saturation energy (53.08 J) was found at
[0 /90 ] unidirectional composites compared with the
other stacking sequences.
Mohamed Nasr et al.50 investigated the fatigue
behaviour of woven roving GF-reinforced polyester
matrix composites with the fiber Vf ranging from
55% to 65% and two different fiber orientations like
[45 ] and [0 , 90 ]. The torsional fatigue test was per-
formed on thin wall tubular specimens at different
negative stress ratios (R) such as 1, 0.75, 0.5,
0.25 and 0. The experimental result shows that the
strength degradation rate depends on the stress ratio
and the static strength of the material and the [45 ]
lay-up specimen had maximum failure rate.
Mohammad Torabizadeh35 investigated the tensile,
compressive, in-plane shear behaviour of unidirectional
GF-reinforced epoxy matrix composites under static
and low temperature (25 C, 20 C, 60 C) conditions.
The tensile test result showed that the stress–strain
curve decreases with increase in temperature.
The maximum tensile strength (784.94 MPa), young’s
modulus (28.65 MPa), compression strength
(186.22 MPa) and shear strength (1.33  108 MPa)
was found at 60 C.
Ahmed El-Assal et al.51 investigated the fatigue
behaviour of unidirectional GF-reinforced orthophtha-
lic polyester matrix composites under torsional and com-
bined bending loads at room temperature and the
tests were conducted on constant deflection fatigue
machine with the frequency of 25 Hz. Different fiber
Vfs are used such as 15.8, 31.8 and 44.7%. The experi-
mental result showed that the number of stress cycles and
1268
stress amplitude increased with the increase of fiber Vf
and the composite specimen torsional fatigue strength
was lower compared to bending fatigue strength.
Mohan et al.23 investigated the mechanical proper-
ties of jatropha oil cake-filled woven mat E-GF-
reinforced epoxy composites. The experimental test
conducted at longitudinal direction of composite speci-
men and the surface fracture exposed that the similar
breakage of fibers and matrix, which represent good
adhesion between fibers and matrix. The experimental
result showed that 6 wt% of jatropha oil cake fillers
filled composite specimen was found maximum tensile
strength (311 MPa) and tensile modulus (18.61 GPa)
but the surface hardness was slightly lower than unfilled
composites.
Zaretsky et al.52 investigated the dynamic response
of woven GFs-reinforced epoxy composite subjected to
impact loading through fiber direction and the impact
velocities ranging from 60 to 280 m/s. The free surface
velocity versus time curve shows that the impact
strength increased with increase of the shock wave vel-
ocity, the unloading wave speed was higher than com-
pression wave speed and the wave speed decreased with
decrease of the pressure.
Godara et al.36 investigated the tensile behaviour of
GF-reinforced epoxy composite with the different
woven fibers orientations like [0 ], [45 ] and [90 ].
The 35 wt% of short borosilicate GFs-reinforced with
multilayered cross woven composite with epoxy matrix.
The stress versus stain curve reported that the tensile
strength was strongly depend on the fiber alignment to
the external load, [0 /90 ] laminate composites had the
maximum failure strength (355 MPa), low ductility and
low strain failure (1.65%) than [45 ].
Karakuzu et al.53 investigated the mechanical behav-
iour of woven mat GF-reinforced vinyl ester matrix
composites with circular hole and 63% fiber Vf, the
different distance from free edge of plate (E) to diam-
eter of hole (D) ratios are 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. During the
experiment the load is applied to longitudinal direction
of specimen, the tension mode experimental result
showed that the young’s modulus was found
20,769 MPa. The shear modulus (G12) was found
using following Equation (1),
1 untreated specimen damping and stiffness increased
Shear modulus ðG12 Þ ¼
4
Ex  E11  E12  2E121
where, E1 ¼ E2 is the youngs modulus of the compos-
ites, from the above equation, the shear modulus was
found for 4133 MPa and n12 ¼ poison’s ratio, the shear
strength (S) was obtained following Equation (2),
max
Shear strength ðSÞ ¼
ti c
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Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 33(13)
where, r, ti and c were density, dimensions of specimen,
from the above equation, the shear strength were found
for 75 MPa.
Dandekar et al.54 investigated the compression
and release response behaviour of a woven mat S2
GF-reinforced polyester composites under shock load-
ing applied up to 20 GPa. The stress and particle vel-
ocity properties were described the shock response, the
plate reverberation and shock and re-shock experimen-
tal result showed that the Hugoniot elastic limit (HEL)
of composites ranging from 1.3 GPa to 3.7 GPa.
LeBlanc et al.55 investigated the compressive
strength behaviour of woven mat S-2 GF-reinforced
Epoxy/Vinyl ester composites with four different areal
weights like 93, 98, 100 and 190 oz/yd2 and the com-
posite specimen subjected to shock loading on experi-
mentally, two different pressure applied on compressive
specimen such as 2.58 and 4.79 MPa. Compressive
strength versus pressure curve in weft direction result
showed 100 and 98 oz composites was obtained max-
imum strength but the warp direction 93, 98 and 190 oz
composites are maximum strength and nearly equal
under each pressure level.
Vibration characteristics of GFRP
matrix composites
Erden et al.4 investigated vibrational properties of
glass/polyester composites via matrix modification
technique. To achieve this, unsaturated polyester was
modified by incorporation of oligomeric siloxane in the
concentration range of 1–3 wt%. Modified matrix com-
posites reinforced with woven roving glass fabric were
compared with untreated glass/polyester in terms
of mechanical and interlaminar properties by conduct-
ing tensile, flexure and short-beam shear tests.
Furthermore, vibrational properties of the composites
were investigated while incorporating oligomeric silox-
ane. From the experiment it was found that the natural
frequencies of the composites were found to increase
with increasing siloxane concentration.
Sridhar et al.12 investigated the damping behaviour
of woven fabric GFRP composites under saline water
treatment with various fiber volumes like 20, 25, 30, 35
and 40 and various time period using the logarithmic
decrement method. The damping factor value of
ð1Þ
with increase in fiber volume percentage. Maximum
decrease in the damping values was observed for 40%
fiber volume specimen.
Yuvaraja et al.56 investigated the vibration charac-
teristics of a flexible GFRP composite with shape
memory alloy (SMA) and piezoelectric actuators. In
first case, the smart beam consists of a GFRP beam
ð2Þ
modelled in cantilevered configuration with externally
Sathishkumar et al.
attached SMAs. In second case, the smart beam con-
sists of a GFRP beam with surface-bonded lead zirco-
nate titanate (PZT) patches. To study the behaviour of
the smart beam a mathematical model is developed.
Using ANSYS the vibration suppression of smart
beam was investigated. The experimental work is car-
ried out for both cases in order to evaluate the vibration
control of flexible beam for first mode, also to find the
effectiveness of the proposed actuators. As a result of
the vibrational characteristic, GFRP beam is more
effective when SMA is used as an actuator. SMA actu-
ator was more efficient than the PZT actuator because
very less voltage is required for actuation of SMA.
Bledzki et al.57 investigated the elastic constants of
unidirectional E-glass-reinforced epoxy matrix compos-
ite by the vibration testing of plates with two different
fibers–surface treatments. The first type was treated by
epoxy dispersion with aminosilane to promote fiber/
matrix adhesion and the second type was sized with
polyethylene to prevent fiber/matrix adhesion. Elastic
properties were good for epoxy dispersion with amino-
silane composite and poor for polyethylene composites.
Mishra58 investigated the vibration analysis of uni-
directional GF-reinforced resol/vac-eha composites
(with varying Vf of GFs). Resol solution was blended
with vinyl acetate-2-ethylhexyl acrylate (vac-eha) resin
in an aqueous medium. The role of fiber/matrix inter-
actions in GFs-reinforced composites were investigated
to predict the stiffness and damping properties.
Damping properties decreased after blending Vac-eha
copolymer content with resol, while increasing the GF
content in composite plate increases the damping prop-
erties. Due to incorporation of GFs in the matrix, the
tensile, stiffness and damping properties were increased.
Colakoglu et al.13 investigated the damping and
vibration analysis of polyethylene fiber composite
under various temperatures ranging from 10 C to
60 C. A damping monitoring method was used to
experimentally measure the frequency response and
the frequency was obtained numerically using a finite
element program. The damping properties, in terms of
the damping factor, were determined by the half-power
bandwidth technique. The experimental result showed
that the natural frequency and elastic modulus
decreased with increase in temperature.
Naghipour et al.14 investigated the vibration damping
of glued laminated beams reinforced with various lay ups
of E-GF-reinforced epoxy matrix composites by using
different methods such as, Hilbert transform, logarith-
mic decrement, moving block and half band power meth-
ods. Half band power method improves the accuracy
when considering the vibration damping of composite
materials possessing relatively high level of damping.
Furthermore, their experimental results indicated that
the addition of GRP-reinforcement in the bottom
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1269
surface of cantilever beams could significantly improve
their stiffness and strength characteristics.
Environmental behaviours of GFRP
matrix composites
Araujo et al.30 investigated the water absorption behav-
iour of fiber glass wastes-reinforced polyester compos-
ites with different fiber wastes like 20, 30 and 40%. The
test specimen immersed in distilled water at different
time interval up to 600 h and time versus water absorp-
tion curve was plotted. It resulted that the water sorp-
tion decreased with increase of fiber content in
composite and the minimum water absorption was
found for polyester/fiberglass wastes (40%) composite.
Abdullah et al.59 investigated the effects of
weathering condition on mechanical properties of
GF-reinforced thermoset plastic composites. The mech-
anical properties were decreased with various weather-
ing conditions such as humidity, temperature and
ultraviolet radiation and pollutant.
Botelho et al.60 investigated the environmental
behaviour of woven mat GF-reinforced poly ether-
imide thermoplastic matrix composites. The testing
was conducted with varying temperature at relative
humidity of 90% for 60 days under sea water. The
moisture absorption behaviour was mostly dependent
on temperature and relative humidity. The moisture
absorption curve reported that the weight gain was
initially increased linearly with respect to time. The
maximum moisture absorption of 0.18% was found
after 25 days.
Chhibber et al.61 investigated the environmental deg-
radation of GFRP composite with different tempera-
ture such as 45 C and 55 C. This testing was
conducted in normal water and sodium hydroxide
(NaOH) bath after a time of 1 and 2 months. The per-
centage weight gain increased with increase of bath
time and temperature, NaOH bath found larger
weight gain compared with that of water bath.
Renaud et al.62 investigated the environmental
behaviour of E-GF-reinforced isophtalic polyester
composites with different GFs such as boro-silicate
and boron-free at different environmental conditions
such as strong acids, cement extract, salt water, tap
water and deionized water. The test was conducted at
60 C for lifetime of 50 years; the boron-free E-GF com-
posite increased the resistance of moisture absorption
in all environmental conditions.
Kajorncheappunngam et al.20 investigated the effect
of aging environment on degradation of woven fabric
E-glass-reinforced epoxy with four different liquid
media such as distilled water, saturated salt solution,
5-molar NaOH solution and 1-molar hydrochloric acid
solution. Water immersion had the lower damage than
1270
acid or alkali soaking and lower immersion did not
affect the mechanical properties.
Agarwal et al.63 investigated the environmental
effects of randomly oriented E-GF-reinforced polyes-
ter composites with different environmental conditions
such as brine, acid solution, ganga water, freezing
conditions and kerosene oil. The test conducted at
different interval of time such as 64 h, 128 h and
256 h. The percentage reduction in tensile strength
decreased after every interval of time, the maximum
percentage reduction was found on NaOH solution
and minimum percentage reduction was found on
freezer condition.
Ellyin et al.64 investigated the moisture absorption
behaviour of E-glass-reinforced fiber epoxy composite
tubes. They were immersed in distilled water at two
different temperatures such as 20 C and 50 C. The
test was conducted in distilled water for 4 months.
The time versus moisture absorption curve reported
that 0.23% weight gain was found at 20 C and 0.29%
weight gain was found at 50 C.
Abbasi et al.65 investigated the environmental
behaviour of GFRP composites with different combin-
ations such as GF/isophthalic polyester, GF/vinyl ester
and GF/urethane-modified vinyl ester. The test was
conducted at different temperatures from 20 C to
120 C for 30 days, 120 days and 240 days under
normal water and alkaline environments. The GF com-
posites strength and modulus were decreased in alkali
environment at higher temperatures.
Visco et al.10 investigated the mechanical properties
of GF-reinforced polyester composites before and after
immersion in seawater. Two different types of polyester
resins, such as isophthalic and orthophthalic, and two
different types of laminates were used for composites
preparation. One laminate contained five layers of
reinforcement with isophthalic polyester resin and
another was obtained by laminating four layers of
reinforcement with orthophthalic resin and one exter-
nal layer with isophthalic. The experimental result
showed that flexural modulus, flexural strength and
shear modulus decreased with increase in immersion
time. Isophthalic resin was better bonding with GFs,
which was resisting the seawater absorption compared
to orthophthalic resin.
Thermal properties of GFRP matrix
composites
Husic et al.27 investigated the thermal properties of E-
glass-reinforced soy-based polyurethane composites
with two different types of polyurethane such as soy-
bean oil and petrochemical polyol Jeffol. Soy-based
polyurethanes had better thermal stability than petro-
chemical polyol Jeffol-based polyurathene.
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Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 33(13)
Hameed et al.11 investigated the thermal behaviour
of chopped strand E-GF-reinforced modified epoxy
composites with different Vf of fibers such as 10%,
20%, 30%, 40%, 50% and 60%. The test was con-
ducted in nitrogen atmosphere at the temperature
range from 30 C to 900 C. The thermogravimetric ana-
lysis (TGA) showed that 60% Vf of composites had
higher thermal stability and its degradation tempera-
ture was shifted from 357 C to 390 C.
Budai et al.66 investigated the thermal behaviour of
chopped strand mat E-GF-reinforced unsaturated
polyester composite with different number of glass
mat layers such as 4, 6 and 11 layers and different
GF such as viapal and aropol using TGA and heat
distortion temperature (HDT) analysis. The test was
conducted between 30 C and 700 C in purging nitrogen
and between 30 C and 550 C in purging oxygen.
Increasing GF content in composite delayed the
thermo-oxidative decomposition.
Lopez et al.3 investigated the thermo-analysis of
E-GF waste polyester composite without filler. The
TGA/differential thermogravimetric (DTG) curve
showed that the degradation temperature shifted from
209.8 C to 448.7 C and mass loss shifted from 1.8 wt%
to 4.4 wt%.
Tribological behaviours of GFRP matrix
composites
El-Tayeb et al.67 investigated the worn surfaces of
chopped GF-reinforced unsaturated polyester com-
posites of parallel/anti-parallel (P/AP) chopped GF
orientations with various sliding velocities such as
2.8, 3.52, 3.9 m/s and various load of 30, 60, 90 N
at ambient temperature. The experimental result
showed that sliding in P-orientation had lower friction
coefficient at lower load and higher speed compared
to AP-orientation. Sliding in AP-orientation had
lower friction coefficient at higher load, speed and
distance compared to P-orientation. AP-orientation
exhibited less mass loss (16%) compared to the
P-orientation.
El-Tayeb et al.16 investigated the multipass two-
body abrasive wear behaviour of CGRP composites
with various sliding velocities such as 0.157 and
0.314 m/s and the applied normal loads of ranging
from 5 N to 25 N. The test was conducted with sliding
against water-proof SiC abrasive paper under dry con-
tact condition. Wear rate decreased with increasing
load and decreasing rotational speed. AP-orientation
enhanced the abrasive resistance of CGRP composite.
They concluded that AP-orientation had lowest wear
rate than other orientations and scanning electron
microscope (SEM) result indicated AP-orientation
had no fiber damage.
Sathishkumar et al.
Quintelier et al.68 investigated the friction and wear
behaviour of GF-reinforced polyester composites with
loading range from 60 to 300 N at a constant speed of
10 mm/s under dry conditions. The SEM observations
showed that parallel orientation had lower friction than
transverse orientation.
Mathew et al.2 investigated the tribological proper-
ties of E-GF-reinforced polyester composites with vari-
ous directly oriented warp knit fibers such as biaxial,
biaxial non-woven, tri-axial and quad-axial fabric with
various thermoset resins like polyester, vinyl ester and
epoxy resin. Biaxial non-woven-reinforced vinyl ester
composite had better performance than other
combinations.
Kishore et al.15 investigated the effects of velocity
and load on the sliding wear behaviour of plain weave
bi-directional E-glass fabric-reinforced epoxy compos-
ites with different fillers such as oxide particle and
rubber particle under the sliding velocity between 0.5
and 1.5 m/s at three different loads of 42, 140 and
190 N. Block on roller test result showed that the
oxide particle-filled composite had better wear resist-
ance compared to rubber particles at low load condi-
tions. But during higher load condition, rubber
particles had better wear resistance than oxide
particles.
Yousif et al.69 investigated the friction and interface
temperature behaviour of chopped strand mat GF-
reinforced unsaturated polyester composites with vari-
ous sliding velocities such as 2.8, 3.52 and 3.9 m/s and
various loads 30, 60 and 90 N under dry contact sliding
against smooth stainless steel. Parallel and anti-parallel
chopped GF orientations were measured at ambient
temperature. The AP-orientation had more friction
coefficients (0.5–0.6) and interface temperature (29 to
50 C) compared to P-orientation.
Chand et al.70 investigated the three-body abrasive
wear behaviour of short E-GF-reinforced polyester
composites with and without filler at various sliding
speed, abrasive particle size and applied load.
Increasing the weight fraction of fiber in composite
decreased the volume loss of composite. They have con-
cluded that higher GF content had less wear loss.
Suresha et al.21 investigated the role of fillers in wear
and friction behaviour of woven mat GF-reinforced
epoxy composites with varying load and sliding veloci-
ties under dry sliding conditions. Two different inor-
ganic fillers were added such as SiC particles (5 wt%)
and graphite (5 wt%). The SEM observation reported
that graphite-filled composites have lower coefficient of
friction than unfilled SiC-filled composites and SiC-
filled composite exhibited the maximum wear
resistance.
Sampathkumaran et al.71 investigated the wear
behaviour of GF-reinforced epoxy composite under
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1271
dry sliding condition. The varying test parameters
were applied load (20–60 N), velocity (2–4 m/s) and
sliding distance (0.5–6 km). Pin on disc experimental
result showed that increasing the load and velocity
increased the weight loss. The debris rate was lower
for smaller distance and higher for larger distance.
Yousif et al.72 investigated the wear and friction
behaviour of chopped strand mat GF polyester com-
posites with various loads (30 N to 100 N) under wet
contact condition using two different test techniques
such as pin-on-disc and block-on-ring. This was con-
ducted with two different fiber orientations like parallel
and anti-parallel. From the experiment, they concluded
that presence of water content increased the roughness
value in both orientations. Moreover, anti-parallel
orientation had more wear and frictional resistance
than parallel orientation.
Suresha et al.73 investigated the friction and wear
behaviour of E-GF (woven mat)-reinforced epoxy
composites with and without SiC particles. The
result showed that (5 wt%) SiC particles-filled com-
posite had higher coefficient of friction and higher
resistance to wear at sliding distance ranging from
2000 m to 4000 m compared to without SiC-filled
composites.
Pihtili et al.74 investigated the wear behaviour of E-
CGRP composite with the sliding distances of
235.5 mm, 471 mm, 706.5 mm, 942 mm, 1177.5 mm,
1413 mm, 1648.5 mm and 1884 mm. When the sliding
distance exceeds 942 mm weight loss of the plain polye-
ster was increased. The result showed that GF-rein-
forced polyester matrix composite was more wear
resistant than the plain polyester.
Mohan et al.23 investigated the sliding wear
behaviour of Jatropha oil cake-filled woven fabric
E-GF-reinforced epoxy composites with different
loads (10 and 20 N). The pin on disc setup result
showed that the wear loss increased with increase of
sliding distance. Wear loss was observed at 2000 m slid-
ing distance at 10 N applied load. The jatropha oil
cake-filled glass epoxy composite had good wear resist-
ance and high coefficient of friction at various sliding
distances.
Suresha et al.22 investigated the three-body abra-
sive wear behaviour of woven E-GF-reinforced
vinyl ester composites with particulate-filled like
SiC and graphite fillers. The test was conducted at dif-
ferent loads such as 22 and 32 N under the sliding dis-
tance ranging from 270 to 1080 m. The experimental
result showed that the graphite and silicon-filled com-
posites had more abrasion resistance and lower specific
wear rate (1.95  1011 m3/(Nm)) than unfilled
composites.
Patnaik et al.33 investigated the wear behaviour of
randomly oriented E-GF-reinforced epoxy composites
1272
with particulate-filled like Al2O3, SiC and pine bark
dust. The different compositions of specimens were pre-
pared using GF (50 wt%)/Epoxy (50 wt%), GF
(50 wt%)/Epoxy (40 wt%)/Alumina (10 wt%), GF
(50 wt%)/Epoxy (40 wt%)/Pine bark dust (10 wt%),
GF (50 wt%)/Epoxy (40 wt%)/SiC (10 wt%). The
experimental tests were conducted at different loads
like 50 and 75 N and the sliding distance ranging
from 200 m to 600 m. They have concluded that GF
(50 wt%)/Epoxy (40 wt%)/Pine bark dust (10 wt%)
composite had better wear resistance (0.000881–
0.001365 mm3/(N-m)) for all sliding distance.
Chauhan et al.75 investigated the friction and wear
behaviour of bi-directional woven fabric S-GF-
reinforced vinyl ester composites with 65 wt% of fiber
and the resin mixed with different co-monomer such as
methyl acrylate and butyl acrylate. Three different com-
positions of specimens were prepared such as GF +
(vinyl ester + styrene), GF + (vinyl ester + methyl
crylate) and GF + (vinyl ester + butyl acrylate).
The test were conducted at various sliding velocities
like 1, 2, 3 and 4 m/s and various loads like 10, 20, 30
and 40 N under dry sliding condition. GF + (vinyl
ester + butyl acrylate) composite had higher specific
wear rate and lower co-efficient of friction at lower
sliding speed.
Application
. Electronics: GRP has been widely used for circuit
board manufacture (PCB’s), TVs, radios, computers,
cell phones, electrical motor covers etc.
. Home and furniture: Roof sheets, bathtub furniture,
windows, sun shade, show racks, book racks, tea
tables, spa tubs etc.
. Aviation and aerospace: GRP has been extensively
used in aviation and aerospace though it is not
widely used for primary airframe construction, as
there are alternative materials which better suit the
applications. Typical GRP applications are engine
cowlings, luggage racks, instrument enclosures,
bulkheads, ducting, storage bins and antenna enclos-
ures. It is also widely used in ground-handling
equipment.
. Boats and marine: Its properties are ideally suited to
boat construction. Although there were problems
with water absorption, the modern resins are
more resilient and they are used to make the
simple type of boats. In fact, GRP is lower
weight materials compared to other materials like
wood and metals.
. Medical: Because of its low porosity, non-staining
and hard wearing finish, GRP is widely suited to
medical applications. From instrument enclosures
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Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 33(13)
to X-ray beds (where X-ray transparency is import-
ant) are made up of GRP.
. Automobiles: GRP has been extensively used for
automobile parts like body panels, seat cover
plates, door panels, bumpers and engine cover.
However, GRP has been widely used for replacing
the present metal and non-metal parts in the various
applications and tooling costs are relatively low as com-
pared with metal assemblies.
Conclusion
The mechanical, dynamics, tribological, thermal and
water absorption properties of GFRP composites
have been discussed. The important application of
these composites has highlighted.
. The various preparation technologies were used for
preparing the GRP composites with various envir-
onmental conditions.
. Ultimate tensile strength and flexural strength of the
fiber glass polyester composite increased with
increase in the fiber glass Vf of fiber weight fractions.
. The elastic strain of the composite increased with the
fiber glass Vf up to 0.25, and then subsequently
decreased with further increase in fiber glass Vf.
. The Young’s modulus of elasticity of the composite
increased with the fiber glass Vf.
. The damping properties of GRP were improved by
increasing the GF content in composite and the nat-
ural frequency was measured for all conditions.
. The water absorption was analyzed for various
environmental conditions with different time
period. The water absorption decreased the mechan-
ical properties of the composites.
. The coefficient of friction at various sliding distances
and loading condition were analyzed with various
fiber orientations like random, woven mat, longitu-
dinal, P/AP chopped GF. The lower wear was found
for more fiber incorporated in the polymers.
For improving the composites properties, the fibers
were treated with various chemicals and matrix blend
with suitable chemical for making the GRP composites.
This may improve the mechanical, thermal, tribological
properties of the GRP composites.
Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding
agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Conflict of interest
None declared.
Sathishkumar et al.
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