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Materials Today: Proceedings 4 (2017) 3166–3172
www.materialstoday.com/proceedings

5th International Conference of Materials Processing and Characterization (ICMPC 2016)

Mechanical Characterization Of Unidirectional Carbon And

Glass/Epoxy Reinforced Composites For High Strength
Applications
C.Venkateshwar Reddy 1 P. RameshBabu2, R.Ramnarayanan3 Dilkeshwar Das 4

1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Matrusri Engineering College Saidabad, Hyderabad.
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University college of Engineering, Osmania University, Hyderabad.
3
Advanced Systems Laboratory (DRDO) Hyderabad.
4
Advanced Systems Laboratory (DRDO) Hyderabad

Abstract

Fiber reinforced polymer matrix composites have been extensively employed in Military, Aerospace and Automobile
industries due to their excellent mechanical properties such as high specific strength and stiffness. The study is made to
investigate the effect of mechanical properties by using different reinforcement materials.In the present study
Unidirectional T-300, T-700 12k Carbon fibers and E-Glass Tow Pregfibers withepoxy resin(HT Cure) are used to
fabricate laminates by plate winding using filament winding technique. Laminates are cured in an oven. The prepared
laminates were cut along fiber direction(00) and transverse to it(900).These laminates are tested for Tensile,
Compressive, Flexural strength and Modulus and also Inter laminar shear strength (ILSS) according to ASTM
standards. The test results compared and found thatCarbon T-300 12k fiber reinforced composites shows superior
properties than other two fiber reinforced composites.

©2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Selection and peer-review under responsibility of Conference Committee Members of 5th International Conference of
Materials Processing and Characterization (ICMPC 2016).

Key words: Glass fiber ,Carbon fiber, Epoxy Resin,Unidirectional, HT cure, tensile strength, interlaminar shear strength, physical
properties

1. Introduction:

Fiber reinforced polymer (Carbon and Glass) composites are finding increasing demand in structural
applications especially in Air craft structures and rocket motor casing.In spite of their high cost composites
are widely opted because of their tailor made properties.

*Corresponding author.
E-mail address: cvreddy36@gmail.com

2214-7853©2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Selection and peer-review under responsibility of Conference Committee Members of 5th International Conference of Materials
Processing and Characterization (ICMPC 2016).
 C.Venkateshwar Reddy et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 4 (2017) 3166–3172 3167

Filament winding technique is a very popular method to produce composite parts which are axi-symmetric
pipes, tubes, tanks, domes, spheres are fabricated by filament winding technique.
In this process an axi-symmetric mandrel is used outside surface of the mandrel is similar to the inner
surface of component to be produced. A certain number of filaments(12K) are pulled by tension and wetted
in a resin bath and then wound on to a rotating mandrel with circumferential winding. After completion of
wounding the composite is cured in an oven. Filament winding is also performed by dry winding(Towpreg).
The impregnated filament yarns (Towpreg) are wound directly on to the mandrel which results reducing in
production time, improves cleanliness and less fiber damage. The cured laminates were cut longitudinally
and transversely to the fiber direction and characterized by tensile, compression, flexural and inter laminar
shear strength were tested. Morais et al [ 1] manufacturedglass/polyster flat laminates by wet filament
winding process and measured mode II inter laminar fracture properties aiming to present composite
overwrapped pressure vessels(copv) behavior. Ozdil et al [ 2 ] produced glass/ epoxy flat filament wound
composite and measured their mixed mode delamination growth to represent the behavior of glass/ epoxy
composite cylinders. Ide et al [ 3 ] prepared prepeg contain unidirectional carbon fiber, co-directional
standard steel filaments and matrix resin. Hayers et al [ 4 ] incorporated alumina particles and nano fibers in
to epoxy resin and impregnated those in to unidirectional carbon fibers.
The scope of this study is to prepare flat carbon and glass/ epoxy composites by using Tow prepregwet
filament winding technique with epoxy resin as matrix material.

2. Experimentation:
2.1 Materials:
Materials used are listed in table 1. The unidirectional carbon fiber Toray T-300 12K, T-700 12K
and E-glass fiber along with epoxy matrix (HT CURE) are used ( see in Fig 1 and Fig 2) . The epoxy resin
used for all the fibers are LY 556 and hardner HY5200 in proportion of 100:24 by weight. Different
laminates are prepared with modifying the reinforcement fibers with same epoxy matrix.

Fig.1 Carbon fiber Fig.2Glass fiber

Table.1 Details of materials used

Constituent/Parameter Specification/ Details

Reinforcement Unidirectional carbon Towpreg

T-300, T-700 12K and E-glass Towpreg

Epoxy LY-556
Hardner HY-5200
Fiber Tension 2Kg

Distance between resin bath and mandrel 1.75mt

Mandrel R.P.M 15
3168 C.Venkateshwar Reddy et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 4 (2017) 3166–3172

Resin Temperature 480c

Volume fraction 65% - 70%

2.2 Specimen preparation:

The reinforcement materials Carbon fiber T-300, T-700 and E-glass/epoxy resin(LY556 +
HY5200) used for fabrication of specimens. In this flat laminates manufactured on top of a steel rectangular
mandrel as shown in fig 3. The fibers of carbon T-300-12K-50c & T-700-12K-50c are passed through a
resin bath (wet winding) containing epoxy resin with hardener. The temperature of resin is maintained
around 400c in order to bring the resin viscosity in the range of 1000 to 1500 cP this will enables volume
fraction of fibers around 65%.

The delivery eye is able to process up four Tows simultaneously. The design and manufacturing of the
laminates were aided by CAD Wind 2007, which is a CAD software for filament winding. It converts data
input containing all the winding parameters in to a simulated model which can be used for design and
manufacturing optimization. The manufacturing simulation is required before processing so that it can
predict and solve common problems inherent to filament winding such as fiber slippage, angle deviation and
thickness variation etc.

Fig.3 Filament winding Process using Towpreg on flat Mandrel

E-glass Tow prepreg winding has to be made on flat rectangular plate by filament winding by heating
towpreg to a temperature around 600c by hot air gun at pay out edge. Tension in fibers 2Kg was maintained
per spool during winding operation. Excess tension in fiber will cause fiber damage. The mandrel is rotated
at a speed of 15 r.p.m. After completion of winding the mandrel is kept under rotation for about one hour to
ensure that there is no resin collection at the bottom of the die due to gravity.
The wound laminate (resin before cured) is cut open along the length of the mandrel parallel to its
axis. The cut laminates are placed in a curing oven. The composite was cured as per the following cure
cycle. Set the temperature of oven to 1500c @ 10c per minute. When the component reaches temperature to
1400c hold it and maintain for 4 hrs. After completion of hold start cooling the auto clave from 1400c to 600c
@ 10c per minute. When the air temperature reaches 600c the oven has to be switched off and reaching the
room temperature. The mould is taken out of the auto clave and laminates are removed and cut in to required
size as per ASTM standards to test mechanical properties.

2.3 Specimen testing for mechanical properties:

Five test specimens of each with different reinforcement material were used to test Tensile,
Compression, Flexural behavior and Inter laminar shear strength. The test was carried out using universal
testing machine, shown in Fig 4 and Fig 5, INSTRON. The tensile and compression behavior of
prepared samples were determined at room temperature by using universal testing machine according to
ASTM D3039 & ASTM D 3410 standards. Test specimens having dimensions of width 12.5mm and
 C.Venkateshwar Reddy et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 4 (2017) 3166–3172 3169

thickness 3.5mm the specimen was loaded between two adjustable grips of a 60KN computerized universal
testing machine (UTM) with an electronic extensometer. Each test was repeated five times and the average
value was taken to calculate the tensile strength m tensile modulus and compression strength, compressive
modulus.
The flexural strength is determined by 3-point bend test in accordance with ASTM D 790. The test
specimens having 10mm width 3mm thickness three point bend test were performed in a servo controlled
UTM machine having load cell capacity of 5KN. The cross head speed 2mm / min and span length to
specimen depth ratio s/t = 16 was selected. Five specimens were tested and average value is considered for
flexural strength test specimen can examined through visual inspection for failure of fiber and matrix

Flexural strength is calculated by

ଷ௉௅
σ୤ ൌ
ଶ௕௛మ

Where
σ௙ -Stress in the outer fibers at mid point (Mpa),
P -Maximum load (N),
L -Span length of specimen (mm),
b -Width of the specimen (mm),
h -Thickness of the specimen (mm).

Fig.4 Tensile test setup Fig.5 Flexural Test Setup

The Inter laminar shear strength was calculated by using short beam shear test(SBS) as per ASTM
D 2344 five samples were tested in electro mechanical testing machine INSTRON 4505(UTM) with the
cross head speed is 1mm /min and span length to specimen ratio s/t = 4 was used for this test.
3170 C.Venkateshwar Reddy et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 4 (2017) 3166–3172

The force applied at the time of failure was recorded and

௉
Interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) = 0.75
௕௛
Where ILSS inter laminar shear strength (N/mm2)
P is the breaking load (N)
‘b’ and ‘h’ are width and depth of the specimen(mm)

3. Results and Discussions:

Table-2 Mechanical properties of different reinforcement materials

Fibers Tensile Strength Tensile Modulus Compression Compression Flexural Flexural Inter
(MPa) (GPa) Strength Modulus Strength Modulus Laminar
(MPa) (GPa) (MPa) (GPa) Shear
Strength
(MPa)
900 00 900 00 00 00 00 00 00
Carbon
32.25 1270.73 8.71 137.88 551.31 153.72 1465.58 140.74 74.44
T-300

Carbon
11.25 1235.70 8.12 134.58 674.80 136.12 1396.96 104.16 57.83
T-700

E-Glass 31.92 930.27 28.88 53.12 721.79 52.94 1434.42 52.54 65.55

3.1 Tensile strength & compressive strengh analysis:

Mechanical properties of different reinforcement materials observed are listed in table 2. The
tensile strength and compressive strength of the composites with different reinforcement materials are shown
in fig.6. It shows that tensile strength, tensile modulus along fiber direction (00) is higher than transverse
direction 900in all reinforcement materials. Comparing the tensile strength & modulus compression strength
& modulus is 00 in Carbon T-300 12K is higher than other two reinforcement materials Compressive
strength in fiber direction (00) in carbon T-300 12K is lower than other two fiber reinforced composites.

Fig.6 Tensile Strength & Tensile Modulus Unidirectional Carbon T-300, T-700 & E-Glass 00 and 900.
 C.Venkateshwar Reddy et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 4 (2017) 3166–3172 3171

3.2 Flexural strength analysis:

The Flexural strength of carbon T-300, T-700 12K & E-glass fiber reinforced composite laminates
are shown in fig 7 from the test results indicates that flexural strength and flexural modulus in fiber direction
(00) in carbon T-300 12K is higher than theother two reinforcing materials.

Fig.7 Shows Compressive Strength, Compressive Modulus and Flexural Strength, Flexural Modulus of Unidirectional Carbon T-300,
T-700 & E-Glass 00

3.3 Inter laminar shear strength analysis:

Inter laminar shear strength (ILSS) depends on matrix properties and fiber matrix inter facial
strength. From the test it has been observed (see in figure 8) that carbon T-300 12K fiber reinforced
composites shown maximum value of ILSS. The value of ILSS are min. in T-600 E-glass fiber because there
may be increase in void fraction results decrease of adhesion among fiber and matrix.

Fig 8. Shows Inter laminar Shear Strength of Unidirectional Carbon T-300, T-700 & E-Glass 00

4. Conclusion:
The matrix and reinforcement plays an important role for strength and stiffness of the composite
material.Physical properties of any composite material depend on fiber volume fraction and density. In this
3172 C.Venkateshwar Reddy et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 4 (2017) 3166–3172

study three different reinforcement materials namely carbon fiber T-300 12K, T-700 12K and E-glass were
used and their mechanical properties were studied, Technically T-700 12K carbon fiber has better properties
than T-300 12K. However the results shows carbon fiber T-300 12K has better mechanical properties than
carbon fiber T-700 12K. This may be due to better affinity between T-300 12K fibers with wet resin system
used than the T-700 12K fiber. A separate study needs to be carried out to enhance the affinity between the
resin and T-700 12K fiber to get the full advantage of mechanical properties of this fiber.

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