Mechanical Properties Study on Sandwich Composites of Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastics (GFRP) Using Liquid Thermoplastic Resin, Elium®: Preliminary Experiments

Abstract

Composite sandwich structures have been used in high performance applications such as wind turbine blades, due to their unique lightweight structure and superior mechanical properties. In the current study, a new liquid thermoplastic and thermoset resin were used to fabricate four different composite sandwich panels with two various foam types and densities. Composites made with epoxy resin are presented to comprehensively compare the mechanical properties of sandwich structures to elium resin. In the case of the mechanical properties and due to a new liquid thermoplastic resin, extensive comparisons of three-point bending, climbing drum peel, and flatwise tensile strength were investigated and compared with each other. The flexural and flatwise strength of sandwich composite increased by 53% and 75%, respectively, when using Elium resin. Then, the highest value was shown in the GF/PVC/ELIUM structure. The results revealed that Elium resin could be excellent in the case of mechanical properties to replace traditional resins to fabricate various composite structures and manage the challenge of recyclable composites. Elium resin can replace thermoset-based resins for the manufacturing of laminates and composites that are fully recyclable at room temperature with comparable mechanical properties.