A study on the effect of cure time–temperature and fiber shape of short fibers on impact resistance of polyester calcite composites

Abstract

The applications of fiber reinforced composites have grown rapidly and are now widely used in industries. In recent years, a new class of short fiber composites in which the ends of the short fibers were enlarged, have been studied. Because of their length, these short fibers are referred to as short fibers. The fabrication cost of short fiber composite is considerably lower compared to that of continuous fiber composite and that short fiber composite is more feasible from a mass production point of view when compared to continuous fiber composite. Short fiber composites are finding an increased use in commercial applications. The study consists of two main experimental parts. For this purpose, non-reinforced (no fiber) specimens and three different shaped short steel fiber reinforced polyester calcite composite specimens were cured at different curing conditions i.e. 40℃, 80℃, and 120℃ for 4, 8, and 12 h separately. They were then tested according to the impact test procedure to obtain the effects of the end shapes on the mechanical properties due to the impact load. It was generally concluded that as long as the curing temperature and time increases, the impact strength increases.