A STUDY OF THE PHYSICAL-PROPERTIES OF EPOXY-RESIN COMPOSITES REINFORCED WITH KNITTED GLASS-FIBER FABRICS

This study attempts to find the best way of knitting glass fibers and then discusses the mechanical properties of the rib-stitch structural fabrics reinforced with epoxy resin. The results of the experiments show that impact strength of rib-stitch structural fabric (RSSF) composite is three times stronger than that of plain-weave structural fabric (PWSF) composite. However, the tensile strength of RSSF is lower than that of PWSF composite. As a result, we used 8 plies PWSF (300 g/1000 m, 10 x 10) and two plies RSSF in an interply alternated way to make the composites of which the tensile strength increased about 28%; flexural strength increased 20%. The glass fibers will easily break and have hairiness because of their higher rigidity, especially when they are fabricated by knitting. But in this study, it shows that a small amount of hairiness will increase the cross-linking effect and will enhance the mechanical properties of composites.