International Journal of Electro Mechanics and Mechanical Behaviour

Vol. 4: Issue 2
www.journalspub.com

Mechanical Characterization of Fibre-Reinforced Polymer

Matrix Composites Prepared by Using RTM Technique

K.C. Nagaraja1*, S. Rajanna2, G.S. Prakash3, G. Rajeshkumar4

1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Acharya Institute of Technology, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Government Engineering College, Karnataka, India
3
Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore,
Karnataka, India
4
Department of Mechanical Engineering, PSG Institute of Technology and Applied Research, Coimbatore,
Tamil Nadu, India

ABSTRACT
Composite materials play a significant role in many industries, starting from medical
industries to aerospace industries. There are many researchers working in the design and
development of the fabrication methods to prepare composite materials, which suits the
industry need for a particular application. The success of composite manufacturing by RTM
mainly depends on tool designs, efficient heat system, a controlled injection pressure, a stable
vacuum system, proper layup sequence and the choice of the resin as matrix material. In the
present work, the design and fabrication of the mould for resin transfer technique has been
carried out. The composite laminates consisting of woven glass fibre as a reinforcement and
epoxy as matrix are fabricated by using resin transfer mould. The tests have been carried out
on universal testing machine to find mechanical properties such as tensile, compressive,
flexural and impact strengths as per ASTM standards. The maximum tensile, compression,
flexural and impact strengths are found to be 201.67 MPa, 56.11 MPa, 133.1 MPa and 8 J,
respectively.
Keywords: resin transfer moulding, glass fibre, epoxy resin, ASTM, mechanical properties

*Corresponding Author
E-mail: nagarajkc15@gmail.com

INTRODUCTION method like hand layup technique, the

Over the last few decades, plastic, ceramic
and composite materials have been
emerging as new materials as a
replacement for metals. The number and
the volume of application of composite
materials have grown steadily, penetrating
and conquering new market relentlessly.
These composite materials play a
significant role in the field of engineering
because of its high strength and stiffness-
to-weight ratio [1–5]. In another work, the
author concluded that the composite
materials prepared by reinforcing glass to
epoxy matrix have shown that the
mechanical property of the composites
increases with increase in the fibre content
[6]. By comparison with the other ancient
RTM system can be considered adequate
to produce high-quality composites with
good characteristics [7].
EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS
Fabrication of Resin Transfer Mould
The material used for preparing mould is
aluminium plates of thickness 10 mm and
350 mm × 350 mm dimension. The
required dimension of composite can be
fabricated by employing EPDM rubber
gasket (wedges) which creates an air-tight
cavity of required dimension (300 mm ×
300 mm) and shape when placed in
between the aluminium plates. The upper
plate is equipped with a vent to inject
resin-hardener mixture with the aid of an

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Mechanical Characterization of Fibre-Reinforced Nagaraja et al.

injector at the centre. The upper plate is with the suitable resin injection device.
provided with risers at four corners of the The entire mould set-up is fastened using
plate. The injector used here is a simple fasteners of M12 threads at the four ends
grease gun which can also be substituted of the aluminium plates (Figures 1–3).

Fig. 1. RTM mould design in Solidworks.

Fig. 2. RTM mould drawing. Fig. 3. Assembled RTM mould.

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 International Journal of Electro Mechanics and Mechanical Behaviour
Vol. 4: Issue 2
www.journalspub.com

Table 1 shows the detailed bill of materials that are used in the fabrication of RTM mould.
Table 1. Bill of materials.
Sl. no Material Quantity Specifications
1 Aluminium sheet 2 350 mm × 350 mm × 10 mm
2 EPDM 1 350 mm × 350 mm (Cavity 300 mm × 300 mm)
3 Hexagonal bolt and nut 4 M8 standard
4 Silicone tubes 4 Diameter – 8 mm
5 Grease gun 1 120 cc
6 Nipple hose 4 Height – 25 mm, Diameter – 5 mm

Fig. 4. Glass fibre woven mat. Fig. 5. Epoxy and hardener mixture.

Fabrication of Composite Laminate now mixed in appropriate proportion in a

Materials
The epoxy resin LY556 is used as the
matrix material and hardener HY951
mixed in the ratio of 1:10 by allowing to
cure in room temperature for 24 hours. The
reinforcement material used in this study is
bidirectional E-glass mat with 600 GSM.
These raw materials are supplied by
Suntech Fibre Private Limited (Figure 4
and 5).
Fabrication
The glass-fibre-reinforced epoxy
composite material is fabricated by using
the resin transfer moulding technique. The
cavity and mould surfaces are first cleaned
to eliminate dirt and dust particles, which
is followed by surface preparation using a
mould releasing agent. Now a coupons are prepared as per the ASTM
predetermined number of glass fibre mats
are placed in the required orientation in the
cavity. This is followed by sealing the
cavity by an upper mould plate with the
aid of fasteners. Resin and hardener are
container which is then fed into the gun.
The mixture is allowed to penetrate
through the fibre, and uniform distribution
is ensured which can be inspected through
the risers. Then the composition is allowed
to cure for 8–12 hours. The entire setup is
now placed in an oven for about an hour at
60°C or suitable heating mechanism can
be incorporated. The mould is allowed to
cool at room temperature by convection.
The required glass composite is obtained
from the mould using suitable ejection
mechanism. Finally, the sample is
machined to remove excess material which
gives composite of required dimension.
The laminate is prepared with the
compositions of E-glass/epoxy with size of
300 mm × 300 mm × 3 mm. Then, the test
standards to find their mechanical
properties by subjecting these specimens
to different mechanical testings like
tensile, compression, flexural and impact
(Figure 6).

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Mechanical Characterization of Fibre-Reinforced Nagaraja et al.

(a) Lay up of woven fibre (g) Ready laminate

(b) Resin and hardener mixing (f) Raw laminate

(3) Keeping the mould in woven

(c) Pouring of resin (d) Impregnation of resin

Fig. 6. Steps in RTM technique.

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 International Journal of Electro Mechanics and Mechanical Behaviour
Vol. 4: Issue 2
www.journalspub.com

EXPERIMENTATION Flexural Test

The experimentation involves preparing
glass/epoxy composite laminates. The
composite plates are cut down according to the
ASTM standards in order to carry out tensile,
compression, flexural and impact on each
specimen.
RESULTS
Tensile Test
Tensile test, also called tension testing, is a
fundamental material test in which a
sample is subjected to a controlled
tension/pull until its failure. The properties
that are directly measured via a tensile test
are ultimate tensile strength, breaking
strength and maximum elongation. The
test results are given in Table 2 and Figure
7.
Compression Test
Compressive strength is the ability of the
material to withstand compressive load which
tends to reduce size (Figure 8). In the present
work, compression test has been carried on
Universal Testing Machine for the test
coupons prepared as per the ASTM standards
D3410. The test results are tabulated in Table
3.
Flexural strength, also known as bend
strength, is defined as the stress in a
material just before it yields. The
transverse bending test is most frequently
employed, in which specimens having a
rectangular cross-section in bent until
fracture uses a three-point flexural test
technique. Here, flexural test has been
carried on the UTM for test coupons
prepared as per ASTM standards D7264
and the following are the results obtained
(Figure 9 and Table 4).
Impact Test
The Charpy impact test, also called as
Charpy V-notch test, is a mechanical test
in which the amount of energy absorbed
by a material during fracture is
determined. This absorbed energy is a
measure of notch toughness for the given
material. In the present work, Charpy
impact test has been carried out for
prepared test coupons of ASTM standard
D256 and the following results are
obtained (Figure 10).
For sample 1: Absorbed energy = 6 J
For sample 2: Absorbed energy = 8 J

1 2

Fig. 8.Tensile specimen

Table 2. Tensile test results.

Sample ASTM dimension Peak load Ultimate strength Young’s modulus
no. (mm) (KN) (MPa) (MPa)
1 250 × 25 × 4 21.08 196.09 1040
2 250 × 25 × 4 21.68 201.67 1070

Table 3. Compression test results.

Sample ASTM dimension Peak load Compressive strength Young’s modulus
no. (mm) (kg) (MPa) (MPa)
1 50 × 50 × 4 1210.45 55.23 2050

2 50 × 50 × 4 1229.83 56.11 2120

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Mechanical Characterization of Fibre-Reinforced Nagaraja et al.

1 2

Fig. 9. Compression specimen.

Table 4. Flexural test results.

Sample no. ASTM dimension (mm) Peak load (kg) Flexural Flexural modulus (MPa)
strength (MPa)
1 250x25x4 141.747 129.3 4200
2 250x25x4 145.826 133.1 4350

1 2

Fig. 10. Flexural specimen.

1 2

Fig. 11. Impact specimen.

CONCLUSION with E-glass axial non-crimp

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