Experimental study on effect of resin matrix in basalt fiber reinforced polymer composites under static and fatigue loading

To reveal the effect of resin matrix on the behavior and damage mechanism of basalt fiber reinforced polymers (BFRPs), the static and fatigue properties of different resin matrixes based BFRP composites were experimentally investigated. Four types of resins were adopted in this paper. They were normal and toughened vinyl ester resins, and epoxy systems curing at room temperature and at elevated temperature. In parallel to the static and fatigue tests, the damage observation were conducted using in-situ scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation system embedded in the fatigue test equipment. The results showed that the resins played important roles in both of the static and fatigue behavior of BFRP composites. The static tensile strength of the normal vinyl ester resin based BFRP was similar to that of the BFRP with elevated temperature cured epoxy. However, the fatigue life of the former was significantly lower than that of the latter for more matrix cracking and fiber peeling occurred on the surface of the vinyl ester resin based BFRP. Although the static strength of the BFRP was lower with more ductile matrix like toughened vinyl ester or room temperature cured epoxy, the long-term fatigue strength level of BFRP increased with an increase in fracture elongation of the resins. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.