Temperature Effect on Tensile Fracture Behavior of Thermoplastic Glass Fiber/Polyethylene Composites

온도변화에 따른 열가소성 복합재료 유리섬유/폴리에틸렌의 인장파괴거동

Thermosetting matrix composites have disadvantages in terms of moulding time, repairability and manufacturing cost. Thus the high-performance thermoplastic composites to eliminate such disadvantages have been developed so far. As a result of environmental and economical concerns, there is a growing interest in the use of thermoplastic composites. However, since their mechanical properties are very sensitive to the environment such as moisture, temperature etc., those behaviors need to be studied. Particularly the temperature is a very important factor influencing the mechanical behavior of thermoplastic composites. The effect of temperature have not yet been fully quantified. Since engineering applications of reinforced composites necessitate their fracture mechanics characterization, work is in progress to investigate the fracture and related failure behavior. An approach which predicts the tensile strength was perpormed in the tensile test. The main goal of this work is to study the effect of temperature on the result of tensile test with respect to GF/PE composite. The tensile strength and failure mechanisms of GF/PE composites were investigated in the temperature range $60^{\circ}C\;to\;-50^{\circ}C$. The tensile strength increased as the fiber volume fraction ratio increased. The tensile strength showed the maximum at $-50^{\circ}C$, and it tended to decrease as the temperature increased from $-50^{\circ}C$. The major failure mechanisms was classified into the fiber matrix debonding, the fiber pull-out, the delamination and the matrix deformation.