Studying the Effect of Adding Silica Particles on Mechanical Properties of Unsaturated Polyester Reinforced Glass Fiber Composites

Abstract

The polyester matrix composites reinforced with artificial glass fiber layers (woven roving) with directional (0º -90º) and with the random direction were prepared with weight fractions (30%) of reinforced materials. Also, another samples reinforced with glass fiber, same types and weight fractions of glass fibers, with different weight fractions of Silica particles (〖SiO〗_2) (1, 3, and 5 wt. %), were prepared. Some mechanical testing (tensile, flexural, and hardness) were conducted on the samples to study their mechanical properties. The results showed that the mechanical properties (tensile and flexural) decreased with adding of Silica particles (〖SiO〗_2), where decreased from (345.89 MPa) to (123.3 MP) for tensile strength of (0º-90º) orientation fiber reinforced composite and (211.58 MP) to (84.13 MP) for tensile strength of random orientation fiber reinforced composite when adding (5%) of (〖SiO〗_2) particles. Also, flexural strength decreased from (108.95 MP) to (88.88 MP) for (0º-90º) orientation fiber reinforced composite and decreased from (92.25 MP) to (82.13 MP) for random orientation fiber reinforced composite when adding (5%) of (〖SiO〗_2) particles. On the other side, hardness was improved with adding of Silica particles (〖SiO〗_2(, where increased from (15.9) to (24.16) for (0º-90º) orientation fiber reinforced composite and increased from (22.94) to (29.64) for random orientation fiber reinforced composite with adding (5wt %) of Silica particles (〖SiO〗_2). Also, the results indicates that the tensile and flexural strength were higher for (0º-90º) orientation fiber reinforced composite compared to the random orientation fiber reinforced composite.