FIBER REINFORCED THERMOPLASTICS, in general, have higher fracture toughness and better impact energy absorption capability than fiber reinforced thermosets. Recently, many new developments have taken place in fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites, and, both aerospace and automotive industries are showing great interest in their applications. High temperature thermoplastics, such as PEEK or PPS, are replacing epoxy in some aircraft composites. In the automotive area, on the other hand, relatively low cost thermoplastics, such as polypropylene (PP) and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), are likely to be used for vehicle body components. These composites are available in sheet form, and, can be stamped or compression molded into body panels, hoods, trunk lids, bumper beam etc. Tensile and flexural properties of these materials have been reported by Tomkinson-Walles. This paper deals with the effect of stress concentration due to holes, notches and cuts on the tensile strength of random E-glass fiber reinforced polypropylene and PBT composites. Similar data on other automotive composites, for examples, sheet molding compounds (SMC), have been published earlier. In addition to the ambient environment, tests were also performed in presence of three standard automotive fluids, namely, distilled water, ASTM Oil No. 3 and Reference Fuel B (a mixture of 30 percent toluene and 70 percent isooctane by volume). The results presented here will be valuable in designing with such composite materials, particularly in view of the fact that many body components in automobiles contain holes, cut-outs, etc., and may be exposed to stress concentrations in presence of automotive fluids during servicing or operations.
Effect of holes and notches on the tensile strength of random mat reinforced thermoplastic composites
Wirkung von Löchern und Kerben auf die Zugfestigkeit von mit Faservliesen verstärkten thermoplastischen Verbundwerkstoffen
1992
5 Seiten, 5 Bilder, 3 Tabellen, 7 Quellen
Conference paper
English
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