An experimental study on the behavior of glass-epoxy composite at low strain rates

Glass-fiber reinforced plastics are extensively employed in many different applications. This paper in concerned with the rate dependency of mechanical behavior of a type of these composites, namely RE200 glass/epoxy, at low strain rates. With this regard, several tensile tests were carried out by employing a 600 kN Instron testing machine. The experiments were conducted at strain rates ranging from 0.0001 to 0.11 s(-1) with specimens having different fiber orientations. Based on the results obtained in this research work, the longitudinal strength and stiffness increased 24.7% and 4.2%, respectively, by increasing the strain rate from 0.0001 to 0.11 s(-1). This implies that certain mechanical properties of some polymer matrix composites could be rate dependant, even at low strain rates. To evaluate the ultimate strength of the glass/epoxy composite under consideration in terms of strain and strain rate, employing the experimental findings obtained in the present investigation, some relationships are proposed in this paper. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.