Studying the Effect of Reinforcement with Random Short Fibers and Temperature on the Impact Strength of an Epoxy/Polyurethane Blend Matrix

摘要

A polymeric blend consisting of epoxy resin and polyurethane was prepared as a matrix material with (88%) of epoxy and (12%) of polyurethane by weight fraction. It was reinforced with a random short whisker fibre of polypropylene (PP) and fibreglass (FG) with fractional volumes of 4, 8, and 12%. The impact strength before and after the reinforcement was done with temperatures of 25, 50, and 75 °C. The results showed that the reinforcement of matrix material with fibre has increased the impact strength from 3.4 kJ/m~2 to 16.9 kJ/~2 at 12% vol. of the composite material of both fibre polypropylene with glass fibre and followed by the composite material with polypropylene fibre, and finally by the composite material of glass fibre. Also, the increase in temperature led to a rise in the impact strength, except for the polypropylene fibre-reinforced polymer mixture, as the increasing in temperature led to a decrease in the values of impact strength from 14.2 KJ /m~2 at 25 °C to 11.5 kJ/m~2 at 75° C.