Mechanical Properties of a Polyester Fibre Glass Composite

In the present work, mechanical p roperties of laminates fabricated by Hand lay-up technique using fibre glass (woven-mat) of density 3.6 N/ m 2 and general purpose polyester resin was investigated. Fibre glass polyester composite samples were fabricated with d ifferent fibre glass volume fractions (A-0.05, B-0.10, C-0.15, C-0.20, D-0.25 and E-0.30). The materials properties; ultimate tensile strength, Young's modulus of elasticity, elastic strain, and impact strength of the materials were determined through standard tests on standard test samples. It was observed that the various mechanical properties (exclud ing the impact strength) were improved with increase in fibre g lass volume and that the fibre glass - polyester co mposite is characterized by h igh toughness. It was concluded that the optimu m fibre g lass volume fraction for the composite is 0.25.