An investigation on impact strength of a thermoplastic composite made by hybrid fiber knitted preform

In this paper impact strength of a type of thermoplastic composite (glass/Polypropylene) have been investigated. The hybrid knitted fabrics were made of glass yarns and polypropylene (PP) filaments on a computerized flat knitting machine. Then, the hybrid fabrics were heated in a close die under pressure. The glass fiber volume fraction of specimens was 23.6%. The drop test was performed on half sphere specimens of this type of composite. Also this test was performed on specimens which were made of pure polypropylene. It was observed composite specimens have better impact properties rather than pure PP specimens and glass knitted fibers helped them to have a very higher resistance to impact

Keywords:

thermoplastic composites , knitted fabric , glass fibers , Polypropylene , impact strength.