International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Engineering (IJETE)

Volume 2 Issue 2, February 2015,

ISSN 2348 8050

Experimental Investigation on the Behaviour of Fiber

Reinforced Composite Material
M.Manoj Kumar1*, R.Sathish1, M.DineshKumar1, M.Pradeep1
1

Department of Mechanical Engineering,

Nadar Saraswathi College of Engineering and Technology, Theni, Tamilnadu, India.

Abstract
There have been numerous studies on the composite
laminated structures which find many applications in
many engineering fields namely aerospace, biomedical,
civil, marine and automobile engineering because of
their ease of handling, good mechanical properties and
low fabrication cost. They also possess excellent damage
tolerance and impact resistance. With the development
of automobile technology, more and more light-weight
materials are applied to automobile components. In this
present work, the composite laminate is fabricated
(300mm X 300mm) with different fiber and resin ratio
(1 : 1.5, 1 : 1.75, 1 :2) (i.e.) weight of fiber and resin
along with different ply orientations (0 / 90 / 0 /
90), (0 / 30 / 60 / 90) and (0 / +45 / 90
/ -45) on the woven glass fiber and polyester resin. The
most important variables like fiber material, matrix
material, fiber orientation, fiber: matrix ratios and the
mechanical behaviour are investigated experimentally as
per ASTM standards in order to determine the strength
of the material like impact, tensile and flexural. From
these test results on different ply orientations and
different fiber : resin ratios,
the
suitable ply
orientation and the fiber resin ratio can be found out and
used as a alternate material for the application on glass
fiber reinforced polymer composites.
Keywords: Woven Glass Fiber / Polyester, Ply
orientation, Fiber: resin ratios, impact, tensile and
flexural strength.

1. INTRODUCTION
Now a days, fiber reinforced composites are widely used
in various engineering applications including automotive,
aviation, civil engineering structures, etc due to their
lower weight, high specific strength, and stiffness, and
damping characteristics. In recent studies shows that
almost all structures of automobiles will be replaced
with composites like bumper, bonnet etc. Air vehicle
may be subject to impact loads by foreign objects such
as a dropped tool during maintenance. Generally, Fiber
reinforced plastics under loading will be damaged
because of the factors that influence the damage which
include the fiber material, matrix material, fiber
orientation and weight fraction.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Polymer matrix composites are predominantly used for
the aero space industry, automobile parts. Shivakumar S,
et al.[1] Polymer-matrix composites (PMCs) have
been used for a variety of structural memberships for
chemical plants and airplanes, since they have
outstanding performances, such as lightweight and good
fatigue properties. To hold the long-term durability and
to estimate the residual life of the composites under
some hostile environments, it is an important issue to
clarify the facture and/or the failure mechanism in each
service conditions. Degradation of components made
from polymeric materials occurs in a wide variety of
environments and service conditions, and very often
limits the service lifetime.
Daniel, et.al [2] on failure modes and criteria for their
occurrence in composite columns and beams. They
found that the initiation of the various failure modes
depends on the material properties, geometric
dimensions and type of loading. They reported that the
loading type or condition determines the state of stress
throughout the composite structure, which controls the
location and mode of failure. The appropriate failure
criteria at any point of the structure account for the bi
axiality or tri axiality of the state of stress. Patil
Deogonda ,et al. [3] The present work describes the
development and mechanical characterization of new
polymer composites consisting of glass fiber
reinforcement, epoxy resin and filler materials such as
TiO2 and Zn S. The newly developed composites are
characterized for their mechanical properties.
Experiments like tensile test, three point bending and
impact test were conducted to find the significant
influence of filler material on mechanical characteristics
of GFRP composites.
Topdar et.al [4] for the analysis of composite plates.
This plate theory satisfies the conditions of inter-laminar
shear stress continuity and stress free top and bottom
surfaces of the plate. Moreover, the number of
independent unknowns is the same as that in the first
order shear deformation theory.
25

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International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Engineering (IJETE)

Volume 2 Issue 2, February 2015,

3. EXPERIMENTAL WORK
The Bi-directional Woven E-glass fiber was used with
polyester in this study. The weight of the Bi-directional
Woven E-glass fiber is 230gm in all orientations of the
composite plate and weight of the matrix is varied as a
345gm,
403gm,
and 460gm according to the fiber: matrix ratios. The
Composite laminates are fabricated (300mm X 300mm)
using bi-directional woven E-glass fiber/polyester Resin
with different orientations of fiber as (0 / 90 / 0 / 90),
(0 / 30 / 60 / 90) and (0 / +45 / 90 / -45) with
different weight ratios of fiber: matrix (1: 1.5, 1: 1.75
and 1:2) in each orientation using Hand lay-up method.
At the end of the manufacturing process, the final
thickness of plate was measured as about 4.00mm,
4.1mm, and 4.2 mm for the fiber: matrix ratios of 1:1.5,
1:1.75, and 1:2.The fabricated laminate is shown in fig
1.

ISSN 2348 8050

3.1.2 Tensile Test

The tensile test specimens are prepared according to the
ASTM standard D638 for determining ultimate tensile
strength. It is a fundamental material science test in
which a sample is subjected to uniaxial tension until
failure. A tensile test specimen is a standardized sample
cross section. It has two shoulders and a gauge section
between them, shown in fig 3. The shoulders are large so
they can be readily gripped, whereas the gauge section
has a smaller cross section where deformation and
failure occurs.

Fig.3 Tensile test specimen

The different composite specimen samples are tested in
Universal Testing Machine(UTM). The results are
tabulated in Table 2 and the graph is plotted and is
shown in Fig.6

Fig.1: Production of Composite Laminate

3.1 MECHANICAL TESTING
3.1.1 Impact test
The impact test specimens are prepared according to the
ASTM standard D256 for determining impact strength
(shown in fig 2) (i.e.) the energy needed to break the
material and it is measured in joules. A notched sample
is generally used to determine impact strength. A test
specimen usually of square crossed section is notched
and held between a pair of jaws, to be broken by a
falling weight. The pendulum was held at a specific
height. When the pendulum of the charpy testing
machine is released it swings with a downward
movement and when it reaches the vertical the hammer
makes contact with the specimen which is broken by the
force of the blow. The results are tabulated in table 1 and
the corresponding graph is plotted and is shown in Fig.5.

3.3 Flexural Test

The bending test specimens are prepared according to
the ASTM standard D790 is (shown in fig 4) to define a
materials ability to resist deformation under load. The
testing process involves placing the test specimen in the
universal testing machine and applying force to it until it
bends and the results are tabulated in Table 3 and the
graph is plotted and is shown in Fig.7. The flexural test
measures the force required to bend a material under
three point loading conditions. It is used as an indication
of materials stiffness when flexed.

Fig.4 Flexural test specimen

Fig.2: Impact test specimen

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International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Engineering (IJETE)

Volume 2 Issue 2, February 2015,

ISSN 2348 8050

Table 1: Impact Test Results

Fiber: Matrix
Ratios

Width
(mm)

Thickness
(mm)

Absorbed
Energy
(J)

1:1.5

10.40

4.00

1:1.75

10.50

4.10

3.

1:2

10.60

4.20

4.

1:1.5

10.40

4.00

1:1.75

10.50

4.10

10

6.

1:2

10.70

4.20

7.

1:1.5

10.40

4.00

1:1.75

10.50

4.10

1:2

10.60

4.20

Samples

Stacking
sequences

1.
2.

5.

8.

0/ 90/ 0/ 90

0/ 30/ 60/ 90

0/ +45/ 90/ -45

9.

Table 2: Tensile Test Results

Fiber:
Matrix
Ratios

Width
(mm)

Thickness
(mm)

Force
(N)

1:1.5

12.40

4.00

7730

1:1.75

12.50

4.10

8140

3.

1:2

12.60

4.20

5560

4.

1:1.5

12.40

4.00

4460

1:1.75

12.60

4.10

5420

6.

1:2

12.90

4.20

5520

7.

1:1.5

12.40

4.00

4850

1:1.75

12.50

4.10

5010

1:2

12.60

4.20

4880

Samples

Stacking
sequences

1.
2.

5.

8.
9.

0/ 90/ 0/
90

0/ 30/ 60/
90

0/ +45/ 90/
-45

Tensile
Strength
(N/mm)
152.26
160.15
107..62
81.75
116.21
107.01
126.12
117.77
96.91

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International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Engineering (IJETE)

Volume 2 Issue 2, February 2015,

ISSN 2348 8050

Table 3: Flexural Test Results

Fiber:
Matrix
Ratios

Width
(mm)

Thickness
(mm)

Force
(N)

1:1.5

12.10

4.00

570

Flexural
Load
KN
0.57

1:1.75

12.30

4.10

440

0.44

3.

1:2

12.60

4.20

970

0.97

4.

1:1.5

12.10

4.00

370

0.37

1:1.75

12.20

4.10

560

0.56

6.

1:2

12.60

4.20

760

0.76

7.

1:1.5

12.10

4.00

490

0.49

1:1.75

12.40

4.10

720

0.72

1:2

12.60

4.20

490

0.49

Stacking
sequences

Samples
1.

0/ 90/ 0/
90

2.

0/ 30/ 60/
90

5.

0/ +45/ 90/
-45

8.
9.

1.2

Flexural Strength (N/mm2)

Impact strength(J)

12
10

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
1

0
1

4
5
6
samples

4
5
samples

Fig.7 Flexural Strength of Different Samples

Fig.5 Impact Energy of Different Samples

Tensile Strength (N/mm2)

4. CONCLUSION

180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0

In this study, the effects of stacking sequences with

different weight ratios of fiber: matrix of glass/epoxy
laminated composite plates was investigated. The
following conclusions can be drawn from the results
obtained.

Samples

Fig.6 Tensile Strength of Different Samples

The effects of the fiber orientation 0 / 30 / 60 /

90 with fiber matrix proportion 1 : 2 is effective
which absorbs more impact energy when compared
to other fiber orientations and other fiber matrix
proportions.
The effects of the fiber orientation 0/ 90/0/90
with fiber matrix proportion 1 :1.75 which shows
better tensile strength when compared to other
28

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International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Engineering (IJETE)

Volume 2 Issue 2, February 2015, ISSN 2348 8050

fiber orientations and other fiber matrix

proportions.
The effects of the fiber orientation 0/ 90/0/90
with fiber matrix proportion 1 :2 which shows
better flexural strength when compared to other
fiber orientations and other fiber matrix
proportions.

REFERENCES
[1]Shiva kumar S,G. S. Guggari Fiber Reinforced
Polymer Composites International Journal of Advances
in Engineering & Technology, Nov 2011, Vol. 1, Issue 5,
pp. 218-226.
[2] Isaac M. Daniel, Emmanuel E. Gdoutos,
Deformation and Failure of Composite Structures,
Journal of Thermoplastic Composite Materials 2003; 16;
345.
[3] Patil Deogonda, Vijaykumar N Chalwa, Mechanical
Property of Glass Fiber Reinforcement Epoxy
Composites International Journal of Scientific
Engineering and Research (IJSER), Volume 1 Issue 4,
December 2013
[4] Topdar, A. H. Sheikh and N, Dhang Finite Element
Analysis of Composite and Sandwich Plates Using a
Continuous Inter-laminar Shear Stress Model Journal
of Sandwich Structures and Materials 2003; 5; 207.

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