Effects of Environmental Aging on the Properties of Pultruded GFRP

Published

January 1, 1999

Author(s)

Kate Liao, Carl R. Schultesiz, Donald L. Hunston

Abstract

Pultruded glass-fiber-reinforced vinyl ester matrix composite coupons were subjected to environmental aging in order to study their durability since such composites are of interest for infrastructure applications. Specimens were tested as received and after aging in water or salt solutions at room temperature (25 C) or in water at 75 C for various times. The flexural properties (strength and modulus) were determined for bending perpendicular to the 0 orientations (0 orientations (0 being the pull direction) for all aging conditions. In addition, flexural properties in the 90 orientation and Tensile properties in the 0 orientation were also measured for as received specimens and specimens exposed to selected aging conditions. Both strengths and moduli were generally found to decrease with environmental aging. Comparing fracture mirrors on the broken ends of the fibers in aged and none-aged samples suggested that environmental aging decreased the in situ fiber strength. In addition, examination of the failure surfaces and comparisons between the strength of 90 specimens suggested that degradation of the fiber/matrix interface region also occurred during the aging process.

Citation

Composites Engineering

Volume

30

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

Local Download

Keywords

composites, environmental aging, fatigue, fiber/matrix interphase, glass fiber, modulus, strength, vinyl ester, water

Citation

Liao, K. , Schultesiz, C. and Hunston, D. (1999), Effects of Environmental Aging on the Properties of Pultruded GFRP, Composites Engineering, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=851502 (Accessed April 29, 2026)

Additional citation formats