Low Temperature Tensile Response of Glass-Fiber Reinforced Unidirectional Composites

Application of composites at low temperatures in service is widely propagated in many industrials especially aerospace; and this has induced the need for a proper knowledge of low temperature behavior of them. In this paper, several experimental tests are applied to investigate the effect of low temperature on mechanical response of unidirectional (UD) glass-fiber composites under static tensile loading in longitudinal and transverse directions. Mechanical loading was applied using a universal testing machine and low temperature conditions were performed using an environmental test chamber which was able to cool down temperature simultaneously with mechanical tests in the range of -60 °C to 23 °C. The results of the present study indicate that low temperatures have a significant effect on composite failure mode. It is also found that the strengthand modulus of UD composites both increased with decreasing the temperature in longitudinal and transverse tensile loads. On the other hand, the results show that strain to failure decreased by decreasing the temperature.

Keywords:

low temperatures , glass-fiber composites , mechanical properties , tensile loading