FRP Composites in Reading 1.2 - Fibres, resins and cores M. Pavlovic, F.

Csillag
Structural Engineering

Fibres, resins and cores

The properties of the composite material necessarily depend on those of its constituents, namely:
1) the properties of the fibres and the resin,
2) the geometry and the type of the reinforcement,
3) the adhesion and mechanical compatibly between the fibres and the resin,
4) the ratio of fibre to resin, also called: Fibre Volume Fraction ( = ⁄ ), and
5) the orientation of the fibres in the composite with respect to the direction of loading.

Regarding the first two aspects, it is necessary to give an

overview of the properties of the commonly applied
fibre and resin materials of FRP composites in the
following subchapters. As for the adhesion, it is primarily
influenced by the treatment given to the fibre surface,
while the achievable is determined by the chosen
production process. Since fibres carry the load along
their length, the composite material is characterised by
an inherent anisotropy, which can be exploited by a
clever design. Figure 1 shows the schematic stress-strain
characteristics of FRP material given as the synergy of its
constituents.
Figure 1: Stress-strain curve of FRP material
given as a synergy of the components [3]

Fibres
Having high ultimate strength, and relatively high modulus of elasticity, fibres provide the dominant
load bearing function and stiffness of the FRP material. The most commonly used fibres are
presented below.

Glass fibres are far the most widely used reinforcements in commercial composite applications
thanks to their low price, good chemical resistance and high tensile strength and impact resistance.
However they have lower stiffness and inferior fatigue
properties compared to carbon fibres. Moreover, they are
also susceptible to humidity and alkaline attack, as water
molecules can attach to their surface forming a very thin,
softened layer leading to surface microcracks [1].
Although many types of glass fibres exist, E-glass and S-
glass are most commonly used. The tensile strength and
modulus values of different fibres are given in Table 1 and
2 (see the appendix).

High-strength glass fibres are made by melting the raw

materials (sand, kaolin, limestone) at 1600 °C, extruding
the molten glass through an electrically heated platinum
bushing containing 100 to 800 drawing points into
continuous filaments at a speed of 50 m/s. Individual Figure 2: Production process of glass
filaments are coated with additives (sizing) before brought fibres [1]

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together in strands which are wound on high speed collets (Figure 2). Filament diameter (5 to 20 µm)
is controlled by the hole size, draw speed, temperature, melt viscosity and cooling rate [1].

Table 3 shows that different glass fibre reinforcement can generate completely different mechanical
properties, to that end a list is given of the available glass fibre reinforcements (products), also see
Figure 3:

a) Strand – compactly associated bundle of filaments.

b) Yarn – number of strands collected into a parallel bundle with twisted continuous filaments
c) Rovings – a loosely associated bundle of untwisted filaments. They exhibit higher mechanical
properties than twisted yarns [1].
d) Reinforced mats are produced either as chopped strands (CSM = Chopped Strands Mat) or
continuous strands (CFM = Continuous Filament Mat). Chopped fibres have a length of 3.2 to
50mm, they are primarily used as surfacing mats or veils to provide good surface finishing
[1].

Figure 3: Different forms of glass fibre reinforcements [2]

e) Fabrics – are a manufactured assemblies of long fibres, which are held together either by
mechanical interlocking of themselves or with a secondary binding material. Fabric types are
categorised by the orientation of the fibres, and by the construction methods of the
assembly [3].
Unidirectional fabrics have the vast majority of their fibres laid in one direction.
These fabrics are straight and non-crimped, allowing for placing fibres exactly where
they are need in the optimum quantity. The fibres are held in place by weaving,
stitching or bonding [3].
Woven fabrics are produced by alternating 0° and 90° fibres in a regular pattern or
weave style [3]. The pattern can be varied, but the most common form is plain or
satin weaves, see Figure 4a and b. Woven fabrics can be used to obtain specific
properties: such as exploiting the toughness of aramid while mixing it with carbon, or
reducing the costs with mixing glass with carbon fibres. The number of interlaces per
unit area determine the resistance to in-plane shear [1]. Woven fabrics introduce a
crimp to fibres, which causes misalignment of load paths, leading to a dramatic loss
in compression strength due to the increased likelihood of local buckling on a ply
level [3].

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Non-woven, multiaxial fabrics can be made by stitching process as shown in Figure

4c. They show attractive properties, such as immediate load bearing upon being
loaded, high fibre density, and lack of stress points at intersections of fibres, which is
a typical characteristic of woven fabrics [3].

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 4: (a) Plain woven fabric, (b) Satin woven fabric, (c) Nonwoven, multiaxial fabric [1]

Carbon fibres offer superior strength, stiffness and fatigue performance compared to other fibre
forms, although at higher price. In addition, they have excellent stiffness-to-weight ratio, high
toughness, they show good creep and chemical resistance. They can be produced with a variety of
properties, for example they can be optimized for modulus (HM) or strength (HS). Yet, brittleness,
low impact resistance, and lower compression strength than tensile strength can be mentioned as
main disadvantages of carbon fibres, apart from the high price. Carbon fibres possess slightly
negative thermal expansion coefficient, which may result in matrix microcracking during processing
or environmental exposure due to the relative expansion difference between the fibres and the
matrix [1].

Figure 5: Typical stress-strain curves for different types of fibres [3]

Aramid fibres represent the middle course between glass and carbon fibres in terms of strength,
stiffness and costs. They are regularly used as stay cables or ballistic protection due to their
extraordinary wear resistance. The main benefit of aramid fibres is their ability to undergo plastic
deformation in compression, and exhibit ductile fracture in tension through the fibrillation of fibres
in contrast with the sudden rupture of other types of fibres [1]. Besides, aramid fibres are less notch
sensitive, very lightweight, have high tensile strength and modulus, and exceptional toughness and
impact resistance. Moreover, aramid fibres are also very durable as moisture at ambient
temperature has negligible influence on tensile strength and also exhibit excellent thermal and
dimensional stability. On the other hand, no acceptable surface treatment has been developed to

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aramid fibres - which are known to be vulnerable to UV radiation - for this reason they are often
combined with other fibres. Another drawback is the lack of adhesion to the matrix, which results in
a poor transverse tension, longitudinal compression and interlaminar shear strengths. Aramid fibres
are also sensitive to short-term creep, even though they perform better in long-term creep than glass
fibres, thus stress rupture failure mode is less dominant [1].

Polyester fibres are low density, high tenacity fibre with very high impact resistance, excellent
chemical and abrasion resistance but low modulus. Polyester fibres are mostly used in surface tissue
for laminates or as fibre mats and surfacing veil in resin transfer moulding fabrication processes of
FRP structures.

Natural fibres such as jute and sisal are readily available, cheap fibres, whereas their long-term
environmental performance is unknown and their mechanical properties are usually low. Flax fibres
have relatively higher strength and stiffness, nevertheless they are prone to moisture absorption and
rotting [4].

As can be seen in Figure 5 all the fibres behave linear-elastically until breaking, whereas they
demonstrate different stiffness and strain to failure values.

Polymer Resins
In composites, fibres are surrounded by the polymer resin, which is also referred to as the ‘matrix’.
The matrix has four major roles:
1) fixing the fibres in desired geometrical arrangement,
2) transferring the forces to and between the fibres,
3) preventing buckling of the fibres and
4) protecting the fibres from environmental effects.

Additional function of the resin is to provide the composite with toughness, damage tolerance, and
impact and abrasion resistance. Maximum usage temperature, resistance to moisture, thermal
stability and sensibility to UV radiation of the composite is also determined by the matrix [1].
Stiffness and strength are an order of magnitude lower compared to those of fibres. Elastic modulus
is in the range of 2-4 GPa, while the strength is approximately 20-80 MPa as can be seen from Table
4.

Figure 6: Molecular chains of thermoset and thermoplastic resins [1]

All polymer resins are composed of long chain-like molecules consisting of many simple repeating
units [3]. Polymers are classified into two categories: thermoplastic or thermoset polymer resins

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according to the effect of heat on their properties. Thermoplastic polymer resin softens every time it
is heated, while thermoset permanently sets after curing, and cannot be softened or re-formed by
heating. The thermoset monomers are converted into an infusible three-dimensional, rigid
crosslinked structures during the polymerisation process (Figure 6).

Additional crosslinks are established by further heating, leading to a fully cured resin; implying that
thermosets are characterized by a longer processing time than their thermoplastic counterparts,
which lack crosslinks. Although, since thermoplastics have inherently high viscosity and high melting
points, high temperatures and pressures are normally required for processing. Thermoplastics do not
form crosslinks, their main chains are held together by relatively weak secondary bonds [1]. As a
consequence, thermoplastics are recyclable, reparable and impact resistant than untoughened
thermosets, but they are very much prone to creep and exhibits very low fire resistance, which
impede widespread structural applications. Typical thermoplastics include nylon, polypropylene and
ABS; they are usually reinforced by short, chopped fibres [3].

Once cured, thermosets will not melt again if heated, although above a certain temperature their
mechanical properties will worsen considerably, due to the transition of the resin from a ‘glassy’
state to a ‘rubbery’ state. This temperature is referred as the Glass Transition Temperature (Tg), and
varies depending on the type of resin, its degree of cure and whether it was mixed correctly [4].
Above the Tg most properties as resin stiffness, compressive and shear strength, water resistance
drop sharply. Since mostly thermoset resins are used in civil engineering, these will be covered
hereinafter.

Unsaturated polyesters (UP) are most widely used in commercial FRP applications. They are
relatively inexpensive with excellent workability. Additionally, UP shows low moisture absorption,
which makes it applicable to external application. Nevertheless, polyesters generally have lower
mechanical properties due to modest adhesive properties, very brittle behaviour, inferior
environmental resistance and they show high rate of shrinkage during curing [1].

Epoxy resins (EP) are the most prevalent matrix material for high-performance composites, they are
used broadly in filament winding, pultrusion and strengthening, often combined with carbon fibres in
tendons and cables. They have a good combination of strength, adhesion, fatigue resistance, low
shrinkage and processing versatility, while their moisture absorption capacity is extremely low [1]. To
conclude, they generally out-perform other resin types in terms of every important aspects, though
also in price.

Vinyl ester resin (VE) is selected when high chemical and impact resistance is required. Vinyl esters
are similar to polyesters, with an improved toughness and moisture resistance. Their mechanical
properties are superior to those of their polyester counterparts, but much lower than those of EP
resins [1].

Phenol formaldehyde resins (PH) are primarily used where high fire-resistance is required at low
production price, as they produce limited smoke, and retain their properties well at elevated
temperatures. Conversely, they tend to be brittle and do not have high mechanical properties.
During the production of phenolic resins, volatile substances are evolved as by-products, which can
weaken the structure [3].

To sum up, resin system should be chosen according to its adhesive properties, mechanical
properties and its degradation sensibility from water ingress [3].

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Cores
Generally speaking, three types of cores form the central part of sandwich panels: solid cores, foam
cores, and honeycomb cores (Figure 7). Foams are dominating in the manufacturing of structural
sandwiches as a result of their favourable strength and stiffness-to-weight ratios and their relatively
low price. Typically the rigid, closed-cell foam core materials are used for structural applications, with
a usual core density of 32 to 300 kg/m3 [3]. The adequate core material should be selected by a
trade-off between mechanical properties (given in Table 5), weight and price.

Figure 7: Typical cores of sandwich panels [5]

PUR – PolyURethane foams are produced with varying percentage of closed cells either from
thermoplastics or thermosets. They show moderate mechanical properties, and there is a risk of skin
delamination due to the deteriorating resin-to-core interface bond with age [1]. They are typically
used as light-loaded sandwich panels for the purpose of thermal insulation.

PS – PolyStyrene cores are lightweight, low cost, and easy to sand, but are rarely used in structural
applications because of their low load-carrying capacity. Expanded polyester (EPS) is used as an
insulation material, where no water contact is expected; while extruded polyester foam (XPS) has a
finer molecular structure and is a waterproof material. They cannot be used together with polyester
resins, because the resin will dissolve the core [1].

PVC – PolyVinylChloride foams are extensively applied for high-performance sandwich panels. The
uncrosslinked foams are tougher and more flexible, however the crosslinked materials demonstrate
better mechanical properties and resistance to elevated temperature, although at the expense of
being more brittle [1]. Heat stabilization treatments are available for these foams in order to improve
dimensional stability and reduce the amount of gassing that is given off during elevated temperature
cures [3].

PMI – PolyMethacrylImides are lightly cross-linked closed-cell foams, which exhibit outstanding
mechanical properties, heat resistance and dimensional stability. However these foams are
expensive thus mostly used in aerospace composite components.

Honeycomb cores are more expensive than foam cores but offer superior performance. They can be
manufactured from aluminium, glass fabric, aramid paper, aramid fabric, or carbon fabric. The most
commonly used cell configuration is the hexagonal core due to its exceptional compression and shear
rigidity [4].

Balsa-wood is the most commonly used solid core. Its main advantages include excellent thermal
insulation features, good acoustic absorption, and high compressive properties. On the other hand,
the selfweight of the product is limited by its high minimum density (100 kg/m3) which also result in
absorption of large quantities of resin during lamination [3].

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References
[1] F. C. Campbell, Structural Com, vol. 1, no. 1. 2010.
[2] K. G. Budinski, Engineering Material, properties and selection, 9th ed. New Jersey, 2010.
[3] Gurit Holding AG, “Guide to Composites,” Available URL http//www. netcomposites. com/ …,
p. 74, 2000.
[4] L. Nijssen, Composite Materials an introduction. 2015.
[5] G. Carlsson, L. and Kardomateas, Structural and Failure Mechanics of Sandwich Composites.
Springer, 2011.
[6] JRC (Joint Research Center), Prospect for New Guidance in Design of FRP - Support to
implementation, harmonization and further development of the Eurocodes. 2016.
[7] D. V. Rosato, Reinforced Plastics Handbook. Elsevier, 2004.

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Appendix
Table 1: Properties of different fibres and other building materials [3]

Table 2: Mechanical properties of glass and carbon fibres [6]

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Table 3: Typical properties of three GFRP product [7]

Table 4: Mechanical properties of different resins [6]

Table 5: Mechanical properties of different core materials [6]

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