A Study on the Tensile Fracture Behavior of Glass Fiber Polyethylene Composites

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 mechanic 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 6$0^{\circ}C$ to -5$0^{\circ}C$. The tensile strength increased as the fiber volume fraction ratio increased. The tensile strength showed the maximum at -5$0^{\circ}C$, and it tended to decrease as the temperature increased from -5$0^{\circ}C$. The major failure mechanism was classified into the fiber matrix debonding, the fiber pull-out, the delamination and the matrix deformation.

GF/PE 복합재료의 인장파괴거동에 관한 연구