Fiberglass wastes/polyester resin composites: mechanical properties and water sorption

The mechanical properties of polyester/fiberglass composites were studied. The aim of this work was to evaluate the possibility of reusing the wastes taken from spray-up processing of Paraiba state Industries as reinforcement in polyester matrix composites. Composites with 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 wt. (%) of recycled fiberglass were prepared by compression molding and compared with polyester/ virgin glass fiber composites. The mechanical properties and water sorption behavior were evaluated. The results showed that fiberglass wastes are promising to be reused in polyester resin composites. The impact strength was excellent. It can be concluded that the reusing of the fiberglass wastes is viable.