Effect of Fiber Orientation on the Mechanical Properties of Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP)/PVC Sandwich Composites
Abstract
In this study, laminated sandwich composites consist of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) face-sheets (skins) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) foam were bonded together via conventional hand lay-up method. The effect of fiber orientation (0/90 or +45/-45) was examined in terms of compression and flexural properties. Flatwise (FW) compressive test provided the core dominated properties and only 0/90 fiber-oriented samples were tested. When the average edgewise (EW) compressive strength of (0/90)GFRP/PVC and (+45/-45)GFRP/PVC sandwich composites were compared, both of them showed similar results. Core crushing, local bending, debonding and core shear were observed as the common failure modes in the sandwich structures under bending. In terms flexural response, the 0/90 fiber oriented GFRP skin slightly showed better strength values as compared with +45/-45 fiber-oriented structures. By considering the all-quasi-static tests, it can be concluded that 0/90 and +45/-45 fiber oriented GFRP skins exhibited similar performance and there was no significant superiority for any of them.