Mechanical Property of Glass Mat Composite With Open Hole

Abstract

In using process, joints and fasteners always became the weakest area around holes and easy to generate initial damage. At current study, glass chopped fiber mat and unsaturated polyester were used to fabricate glass mat composite (GMC) plates. The influence of open-hole on mechanical property was investigated from tensile test. The decreasing ratio of notched strength from unnotched strength was compared with different size of holes to evaluate the influence of holes size on the sensitivity of GMC. Two sizes of drills, were employed to make drilling hole on the materials. Different damage areas in notched specimens were distinguished. Finally, in order to describe the property of GMC in resistance on open holes, the concept of characteristic distance was introduced. The values were calculated by finite element analysis software (MSC-Marc.) in linear elastic method. Furthermore, the characteristic distance was found that it had a good correspondence with damage characteristics.