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Journal of Reinforced
Plastics and Composites
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Glass fiber-reinforced polymer composites a review

TP Sathishkumar, S Satheeshkumar and J Naveen

Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 2014 33: 1258 originally published online 8 April 2014
DOI: 10.1177/0731684414530790
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Review

Glass fiber-reinforced polymer

composites a review

Journal of Reinforced Plastics

and Composites
2014, Vol. 33(13) 12581275
! The Author(s) 2014
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DOI: 10.1177/0731684414530790
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TP Sathishkumar, S Satheeshkumar and J Naveen

Abstract
Glass fibers reinforced polymer composites have been prepared by various manufacturing technology and are widely
used for various applications. Initially, ancient Egyptians made containers by glass fibers drawn from heat softened glass.
Continues glass fibers were first manufactured in the 1930s for high-temperature electrical application. Nowadays, it has
been used in electronics, aviation and automobile application etc. Glass fibers are having excellent properties like high
strength, flexibility, stiffness and resistance to chemical harm. It may be in the form of rovings, chopped strand, yarns,
fabrics and mats. Each type of glass fibers have unique properties and are used for various applications in the form of
polymer composites. The mechanical, tribological, thermal, water absorption and vibrational properties of various glass
fiber reinforced polymer composites were reported.

Keywords
Glass fiber, polymer composites, mechanical property, thermal behaviour, vibrational behaviour, water absorption

Introduction
Composite materials produce a combination properties
of two or more materials that cannot be achieved by
either ber or matrix when they are acting alone.1
Fiber-reinforced composites were successfully used for
many decades for all engineering applications.2 Glass
ber-reinforced polymeric (GFRP) composites was
most commonly used in the manufacture of composite
materials. The matrix comprised organic, polyester,
thermostable, vinylester, phenolic and epoxy resins.
Polyester resins are classied into bisphenolic and
ortho or isophtalic.3 The mechanical behaviour of a
ber-reinforced composite basically depends on the
ber strength and modulus, the chemical stability,
matrix strength and the interface bonding between the
ber/matrix to enable stress transfer.4 Suitable compositions and orientation of bers made desired properties
and functional characteristics of GFRP composites was
equal to steel, had higher stiness than aluminum and
the specic gravity was one-quarter of the steel.5 The
various GF reinforcements like long longitudinal,
woven mat, chopped ber (distinct) and chopped mat
in the composites have been produced to enhance the
mechanical and tribological properties of the composites. The properties of composites depend on the bers

laid or laminated in the matrix during the composites

preparation.6 High cost of polymers was a limiting
factor in their use for commercial applications. Due
to that the use of llers improved the properties of
composites and ulitimately reduced the cost of the preparation and product.7 Composite materials have wide
range of industrial applications and laminated GFreinforced composite materials are used in marine
industry and piping industries because of good environmental resistance, better damage tolerance for
impact loading, high specic strength and stiness.8
Polymeric composites were mainly utilized in aircraft
industries such as rudder, elevator, fuselage, landing
gear doors, that is due to light weight, reduction of
higher fatigue resistance in the fasteners and number
of components.9 Polyester matrix-based composites
have been widely used in marine applications; in

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College,

Erode, Tamilnadu, India
Corresponding author:
TP Sathishkumar, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kongu
Engineering College, Erode, Tamilnadu, India.
Email: tpsathish@kongu.ac.in

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Sathishkumar et al.

1259

marine eld the water absorption was an important

parameter in degradation of polymer composites.
The dierent mechanisms were used to identify the
degradation of material such as initiation, propagation, branching and termination.10 Epoxy resins have
been widely used for above applications that have
high chemical/corrosion resistance properties, low
shrinkage on curing. The capability to be processed
under various conditions and the high level of crosslinking epoxy resin networks led to brittle material.11
Energy dissipation of composite was important when
they were subjected to vibration environment. Several
factors inuenced the energy dissipation of FRP composites such as ber volume, ber orientation, matrix
material, temperature, moisture and others like thickness of lamina and thickness of the composites.12 All
polymeric composites have been temperature-dependent mechanical properties. The dynamic stability of
polymer matrix composites like the storage modulus
and damping factors were essential to investigating
under cold and higher temperature.13 Four dierent
techniques were used for determining the damping
based on time domain and frequency domain methods. The time domain method was considered in logarithmic decrement analysis and Hilbert transform
analysis. The moving block analysis and half power
bandwidth method were considered in the frequency
method.14 In tribological applications, the composites
were subjected to dierent conditions such as sliding,
rubbing, rolling against other materials or against
themselves. Load, sliding distance, duration of sliding,
sliding speed and sliding conditions were considered
for calculating the eect of tribological performance.2
Optimum wear rate and coecient of friction was
found for GFRP matrix with addition of llers.15
The composite materials have been used for many
tribological applications such as bearing, gears,
wheels and bushes.16 The Figure 1 describes the methodology of the GFRP matrix composites preparation
and characterization, and its application.

Classification of GF
The major classication of GFs and the physical properties are shown on Figure 2. Also, the chemical compositions of GFs in wt% are shown in Table 1. The
physical and mechanical properties of GF are shown
in Table 2.

Preparation of GFRP matrix composites

The GFRP composites were prepared by adopting various manufacturing techniques as discussed below. The
preparations of random and woven mat GFs are shown
in Figures 3 and 4.

Preparation of glass fiber reinforced polymer matrix

composites

Mechanical properties of glass fiber reinforced polymer

matrix composites

Vibration behaviours of glass fiber reinforced polymer

matrix composites

Environmental properties of glass fiber reinforced

polymer matrix composites

Thermal properties of glass fiber reinforced polymer

Tribological behaviours of glass fiber reinforced

polymer matrix composites

Application of glass fiber reinforced polymer matrix

composites

Figure 1. Flowchart of the GFRP matrix composites

preparation and characterization.

Silicone rubber mould

Aramide et al.1 prepared the woven-mat GFreinforced unsaturated polyester composite using silicone rubber mould. The mould was cleaned and
dried. The mould surface was coated with releasing
agent of hard wax for easy removal of composites.
Initially, unsaturated polyester resin containing curing
additives was applied in the mould surface by using
brush. The GF was placed on the resin and fully
wetted. A steel roller was used to make full wetting of
ber in resin. A nal sealing layer of resin was poured
on the ber. Over the period of time, the laminated
composite was fully hardened and it was removed
from the mould. The hand le was used to time the
edges of the cured composites plate for obtaining the
nal size. The dierent ber contents (5% to 30%) were
used to prepare the composites plates.

Hand lay-up method followed by compression

moulding
Erden et al.4 prepared the woven roving mat E-GF/
unmodied and modied polyester matrix composites

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1260

Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 33(13)

Classification glass fiber and

physical properties

Classification

Physical properties

A glass

Higher durability, strength and electric resistivity

C glass

Higher Corrosion resistance

D glass

Low dielectric constant

E glass

Higher strength and electrical resistivity

AR glass

Alkali resistance

R glass

Higher strength and acid corrosion resistance

S glass

Highest tensile strength

S-2 glass

High strength, modulus and stability

Figure 2. Classification and physical properties of various glass fibers.

Table 1. Chemical compositions of glass fibers in wt%.

Type

(SiO2)

(Al2O3)

Tio2

B2o3

(CaO)

(MgO)

Na2O

K2o

Fe2o3

Ref.

E-glass
C-glass
S-glass
A-glass
D-glass
R-glass
EGR-glass
Basalt

55.0
64.6
65.0
67.5
74.0
60.0
61.0
52.0

14.0
4.1
25.0
3.5

24.0
13.0
17.2

0.2

1.0

7.0
5.0

1.5
22.5

22.0
13.4

6.5

9.0
22.0
8.6

1.0
3.3
10.0
4.5

6.0
3.0
5.2

0.5
9.6

13.5
1.5
0.5

5.0

0.3
0.5

3.0
2.0
0.1
0.5
1.0

5.0

17

using hand lay-up technique followed by compression

moulding at a pressure of 120 bars at room temperature
for 120 min with 37% ber volume fraction (Vf) and
3.5 mm thickness of laminates.

Hot press technique

Atas et al.18 prepared the woven mat GFreinforced epoxy composites using hot press technique.
Non-orthogonal woven fabric prepared with dimension of 305 mm  305 mm, an orthogonal fabric was

transformed into non-orthogonal fabric by using shearing process with various weaving angles between ll
and warp. The weight ratio epoxy resin to hardener
was 10:3. The composite panels were cured at 60 C
for 2 h and 93 C for 4 h, during the curing process
0.35 MPa pressure was employed on the laminated
composites.
Aktas et al.19 prepared unidirectional GF-reinforced
epoxy laminates using hot press method. The 65%
weight fraction of laminates fabricated in two dierent
stacking sequences like [0 /90 /0 /90 ] and [0 /90 /

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Sathishkumar et al.

1261

Table 2. Physical and mechanical properties of glass fiber.

Fiber

Density
(g/cm3)

Tensile
strength
GPa

Youngs
modulus
(GPa)

E-glass
C-glass
S2-glass
A-glass
D-glass
R-glass
EGR-glass
AR glass

2.58
2.52
2.46
2.44
2.112.14
2.54
2.72
2.70

3.445
3.310
4.890
3.310
2.415
4.135
3.445
3.241

72.3
68.9
86.9
68.9
51.7
85.5
80.3
73.1

Elongation (%)

Coefficient of
thermal expansion
(107/ C)

Poisons
ratio

Refractive
index

4.8
4.8
5.7
4.8
4.6
4.8
4.8
4.4

54
63
16
73
25
33
59
65

0.2

0.22

1.558
1.533
1.521
1.538
1.465
1.546
1.579
1.562

Ref.
17

dimension of 154  78  12 mm. The ber and matrix

were transferred to the mould and that was allowed to
cure at room temperature for 24 h.
Kajorncheappunngam et al.20 socked 30 cm square
lamina of E-glass fabric in the epoxy resin and was
cured in between the two Teon-coated layer of
0.32 cm thickness. The roller was used to remove the
excess resin and leave for 3 days curing. The cured
composites was post-cured 3 h at atmospheric on
60 C in an oven. The resulting composite was of
1.5 mm thickness with 47% weight fraction.

Compression moulding

Figure 3. Preparation of glass fiber woven mat.

+45 /45 ], CY225 epoxy resin and HY225 hardener

were mixed, the mixture and 509 g/m2 of GF composition cured into hot press technique under constant
pressure of 15 MPa and temperature 120 C for 2 h,
the fabricated composite plate thickness was 3 mm.

Hameed et al.11 prepared the chopped stand mat EGF-reinforced modied epoxy composite using compression moulding technique with various ber Vfs
(10% to 60%). Fiber mats were cut in to size and
heated in an air oven at 150 C to make it moisture
free. The hardner was mixed in epoxy resin. Preweighted ber mat and resin were used to get 3 mm
thickness of composite. The laminates was compressed
in mould and cured at 180 C for 3 h. The cured composite was post cured at 200 C for 2 h and then cooled
slowly to room temperature for obtained nal
composites.

Mixing and moulding

Gupta et al.7 prepared the discontinuous E-GF-reinforced epoxy composites with addition of ller-like
yash. The diameter of GF was 10 mm and cut into
2.54 cm length for composite preparation. The ratio
of epoxy resin and hardener mixed is around 100:10.
The two dierent concentrations of yash ller were
selected as 2.5 and 5% vol%, along with calcium carbonate llers added during the mixing of resin and
hardner. Small size and spherical shape of the yash
particles facilitate their good mixing and wetting of
ber and matrix. The mould was prepared with

Hand lay-up method followed by hydraulic press

Suresha et al.21 prepared woven mat GF-reinforced
epoxy composite using hand lay-up method. The
epoxy resin was mixed with the hardener in the
weight ratio of 100:12. The resin and bers were
mixed to make 3 mm thickness of sample with application of hydraulic press of 0.5 MPa. The specimen was
allowed to cure for a day at room temperature. After
de-molding, the post curing was done at 120 C for 2 h
using an electrical oven. The prepared laminate size was
250 mm  250 mm  3 mm.

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1262

Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 33(13)

Figure 4. Woven and random glass fiber mat.

Dry hand lay-up method

Suresha et al.22 prepared the woven fabric GFreinforced vinyl ester composites using dry hand
lay-up technique and the individual ber diameter
was 812 mm. The resin was mixed into Methyl ethyl
ketone peroxide (MEKP) as catalyst, cobalt naphthanate as accelerator and, N-dimethyl aniline as promoter
used, vinyl ester resin, cobalt naphthanate and MEKP
were mixed the weight ratio of 1: 0.015: 0.015. Two
dierent llers are mixed into resin such as 50 mm of
graphite and 25 mm size of silicon carbide (SiC), The
woven mat stacking one above other and the mixure
of resin spreaded over the fabrics by dry hand lay-up
moulding, and the whole die assembly compressed at
constant pressure 0.5 MPa of by using hydraulic press.
The prepared slabs size was 250 mm  250 mm  3 mm.

H-type press
Mohan et al.23 prepared oil cake-lled woven fabric
GF-reinforced epoxy composites with the individual
ber diameter 18 mm. The magnetic stirrer was used
to mix the epoxy resin and hardner with the weight
ratio of 100:38. Above the prepared mat the resin mixture was applied using roller and brush and the laminate was cured under the pressure of 0.0965 MPa
for 24 h by using h-type press, after the moulding process the post curing was conducted at 100 C for 3 h.
The prepared laminated size was 300 mm  300 mm
 9 2.6 mm.

Mechanical properties of GFRP matrix

composites
Aramide et al.1 investigated the mechanical properties
of woven-mat GF-reinforced unsaturated polyester

composite with dierent ber Vfs like 5, 10, 15, 20, 25

and 30%. The tensile strength, Youngs modulus and
elastic strain increased with increase of the GF Vf.
Impact strength decreased with increase of the GF Vf
of 25%. The maximum tensile and exural properties
were found at 30% Vf of GF as shown in Table 3. The
maximum strain was found at 25% Vf.
Erden et al.4 investigated the mechanical behaviour
of woven roving E-GF-reinforced unsaturated polyester composites with matrix modication technique.
The oligomeric siloxane was added to polyester resin
in dierent levels like 1, 2, and 3 Wt% respectively.
Incorporation of oligomeric siloxane into the polyester
resin increased the mechanical properties such as interlaminar shear, exural and tensile strength, modulus of
elasticity and vibration values. Glass/polyester with
3 wt% of oligomeric siloxane composite was found
to be better mechanical properties compare to other
combinations. The tensile strength increased from
341.5 to 395.8 MPa while the. Flexural Strength
increased from 346.1 MPa to 399.4 MPa, Interlaminar
Shear strength increased from 25.5 to 44.7 MPa, natural frequency increased from 6.10 to 7.87 Hz as shown
in Table 3.
Al-alkawi et al.24 investigated the fatigue behaviour
of woven strand mats E-GF-reinforced polyester composites under variable temperature conditions such as
40 C, 50 C and 60 C. The S-N curve reported that the
tensile and fatigue strength decreased with increasing
temperature up to 60 C at 33% ber Vf. The percentage
reduction factor for fatigue strength was higher than
the percentage reduction factor for tensile strength for
all temperature level.
Awan et al.5 investigated the tensile properties of
GF-reinforced unsaturated polyester composite with
various cross sections of bers at various ply of 1-ply,
2-ply and 3-ply sheets. The higher weight percentage of

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Resin

Polyester

Polyester with (3%

oligomeric
siloxane

Polyester

Polyester
Polyamide66
(PA66)/polyphenylene sulphide (PPS)
blend

Isophthalic/neopentyl glycol
polyester

Polyester

Polyurethanes

Polyester

Polyester (acid
resistant resin)

Polyester resin

Polyester

Polyester

Polyester (3 wt%
Na-MMT)

Epoxy (5.1 Vf
flyash)

epoxy

Type of glass
fiber

Woven mat

Woven mat

Woven mat

Woven mat
Chopped strand

Woven mat
[0 /90 ]

Woven mat (Nonsymmetric)

Woven

Chopped strand
mat

Woven mat

Chopped strand
mat

Chopped
strand + vertical roving

Virgin fiber

Glass

Chopped strand

Woven (biaxial
stitch)

Hardener

MEKP/Cobalt
naphthalene

Curing agent

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0.57

3.98

0.40

0.015

0.60

0.49

0.42

0.30

0.33

0.37

0.25

Vf

D3039 (T),
D790M (F),
D2344 (S)
D638 (T)

ASTM D 2355 (S)

ASTM standard

ASTM- D638 (T),

ASTM- D790 (F),
ASTM- D256 (I)

ASTM D256 (T),

ASTM D2240 (I)

ASTM D 3039 (T),

ASTM D 5379 (I)

ASTM E 399 (T)

ASTM D 2344 (S)

ASTM
ASTM
ASTM
ASTM

362 F (BS, 1997) (T)

PS25C-0118 (T)

2810 E6 (T)
GB/T 16,4211996 (T),
GB/T 16,4191996 (F),
GB/T 16,420 1996 (I)

ASTM D 638-97 (T),

ASTM D-3039 (T),

ASTM D 790 (F),
ASTM D 2344 (S)

ASTM D412 (T)

Testing Standard

Table 3. Mechanical properties of glass fiber-reinforced polymeric (GFRP) composites.

130.03

64.4

103.4719

250

278

220

200

189.0

249

395.8

1.601

Tensile
Strength
(MPa)

7200

3000

325

18654

7000

124

6240

18000

80.5

Tensile
modulus
(MPa)

1.8

0.022

0.055

3.9

20.0

Elongation
at break (%)

206.15

16.5

444

159

399.4

Flexural
strength
(MPa)

27075

18800

Flexural
modulus
(MPa)

0.017.6 (J/mm2)

18.2

153.50 (KJ/m2)

30

27

44.7

645.1 (J/m)

37.926 (J)

10(J)

98.2 (kJ/m2)

41.850 (J)

Impact
strength

32

31

30

29

28

27

26

5
25

24

Ref.

(continued)

Interlaminar
shear
strength
(MPa)

Sathishkumar et al.
1263

36

Epoxy

Epoxy (6 wt% joc)

Epoxy

Unidirectional

Woven + (35 wt%

short
borosilicate)

Epoxy (0.5 wt%

MWCNTs)
Woven

Woven

Epoxy (10 wt%

SiC)
Randomly
oriented

T: Tensile test; F: Flexural test; I: Impact test; S: Shear test; Joc: Jatropha oil cake; Na-MMT: sodium montmorillonite; MWCNT: Multiwalled carbon nanotube.

1.65
43700
355

23

35

0.032

3.8
18610

784.98

311
ASTM D 3039 (T)

ASTM D3039 (T)

0.55

0.60

34
41.46

ASTM D 2344 (S)

0.73

18.99
1.840(J)

297.82

6700
179.4
ASTM D 3039-76 (T),
ASTM D 256 (I)

Elongation
at break (%)
Testing Standard
Vf
Resin
Type of glass
fiber

Table 3. Continued.

Curing agent

0.5

Impact
strength

Interlaminar
shear
strength
(MPa)
Flexural
modulus
(MPa)
Flexural
strength
(MPa)
Tensile
modulus
(MPa)
Tensile
Strength
(MPa)

33

Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 33(13)

Ref.

1264

GF in composites gives stronger reinforcement. The

number of layers, thickness and the cross sectional
area was dierent for each specimen. Maximum tensile
strength observed in three ply reinforcement (Table 3).
Higher Vf of bers increased the strength and stiness
of the composite.
Chen et al.25 investigated the mechanical properties
of polyamide66 (pellets)/polyphenylene sulde blend
matrix with dierent GF volume contents such as
5%, 10%, 20% and 30% respectively. The maximum
tensile strength was found at 30% Vf of ber and exural strength was found at 25% Vf. The maximum
impact strength was found at 0% Vf of ber compare to ber incorporated composites. But the maximum impact strength was found at 20% Vf of
ber that was lower the above. In wear testing, the
minimum frication coecient (0.35) was found at
20% Vf of ber and wear volume was lower at 30%
Vf of ber.
Yuanjian et al.26 investigated the low-velocity
impact and tensiontension fatigue properties of GFreinforced polyester composites with two ber geometries like [45 ] at 42% Wf of ber and [0 /90 ] at 47%
Wf of ber. The result showed that the residual tensile
strength and stiness decreased with increasing impact
energy from 0 to 25 J at 5 J increments. The maximum
properties were sustained up to 10 J test and the above
properties were highly reduced due to increasing the
testing energy from 10 to 20 J. The impact damage
was similar for the two geometries. Low-impact
energy of GF-reinforced composites cause of matrix
damage. The tension-tension fatigue failure test was
performed at various impact damage energies of 1.4 J,
5 J and 10 J respectively. In the S-N curve the fatigue
lifetimes was slowly decreased and higher at 1.4 J with
higher stress at [0 /90 ] and at [45 ]4, the fatigue lifetimes was suddenly dropped and found lower stress
value compared to doped [0 /90 ].
Faizal et al.8 investigated the tensile behaviour of
plane woven E-GF-reinforced polyester composite
with dierent curing pressure like 35.8 kg/m2, 70.1 kg/
m2, 104 kg/m2 and 138.2 kg/m2. Dierent lay-up like
symmetrical and non-symmetrical was used to prepare
the composites. The stress-strain curve showed that the
tensile modulus was decreased with increasing curing
pressure for both symmetrical and non-symmetrical
lay-up. The symmetrical lay-up was less on the stiness
of composites. The ductility increased with increasing
curing pressure for non-symmetrical arrangement and
symmetrical arrangement decreased.
Husic et al.27 investigated the mechanical properties
of untreated E-glass-reinforced polyurethane composites with two polyurethanes like soypolyol and petrochemical polyol Jeol resin. The result showed that the
soypolyol based composite was lower exural, tensile

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Sathishkumar et al.

1265

and inter laminar shear strength compare to petrochemical polyol Jeol-based composite. This was due
to lower cross linking density and the presence of the
side dangling chains in the matrix. The interlaminar
shear strength was similar for both for two resin
composites.
Atas et al.18 investigated the Impact response of
woven mat GF-reinforced epoxy composites with
orthogonal fabric and non-orthogonal fabric of a weaving angle of 20 , 30 , 45 , 60 75 and 90 respectively
from vertical direction (warp direction). The energy
absorption increased with decrease of weaving angle
between interlacing yarns. Woven composites with
smaller weaving angle of 20 and 30 between interlacing yarns, have lower peak force, larger contact duration, larger deection and higher absorbed energy
than larger weaving angle of 60 , 75 and 90 . The [0/
20 ] woven composite was absorbed higher compared
to [0/90 ] woven composite.
Leonard et al.9 investigated the fracture behaviour of
chopped strand mat GF-reinforced polyester (CGRP)
matrix composites with dierent Vf of bers like 12%,
24%, 36%, 48% and 60%. The stressstrain curve
reported that 60% Vf of GF composite obtained maximum improvement of tensile strength of 325 MPa,
Youngs modulus of 13.9 GPa, fracture toughness of
20-fold and critical energy release rate of 1200-fold.
Putic et al.28 investigated the interlaminar shear
strength of the random/woven GF mat-reinforced polyester matrix composite with three-layer and eight combinations of the composition patterns. The glass fabric
with various densities, various polyester resins like
bisphenolic resin, water-resistant resin and acid-resistant resin were used to analyse the strength. Outer
layers were short GF and inner layers were woven
mat ber and thickness of outer layers 1 mm, middle
layer 0.50.8 mm. The P6 [Glass mat (240 g/m2)/woven
mat (0/90 ) (800 g/m2)/Glass mat (240 g/m2)] pattern
model bisphenolic resin-based composites had higher
interlaminar shear strength compared to other patterns.
Avci et al.29 used three-point bending tests and
investigated the Mode I fracture behaviour of chopped
strand GF-reinforced particle-lled polymer composites with varying notch-to-depth ratios (a/b ratios
0.38, 0.50, 0.55, 0.60 and 0.76). The two dierent Vf
of GF like 1% and 1.5% with various Vf of polyester
resins like 13.00%, 14.75%, 16.50%, 18.00% and
19.50% were used for the experiments. In 0% Vf of
GF the maximum exural modulus was found at
16.50% Vf of polyester, in 1% Vf of GF was found at
18.00% and in 1.5% Vf of GF was found at 19.50% Vf.
A similar trend was found in exural strength.
The stress intensity factor (KIC) was found by using
three methods like (1) Initial notch-depth method, (2)
Compliance method and (3) J-integral method. In

initial notch-depth method and compliance method,

the GF content increased the KIC values for all polymer
content. The lower KIC values were found at 0% grass
ber content. The maximum J-integral energy was
found at the 0.6 notch-to-depth ratio.
Alam et al.6 investigated the eect of orientation of
chopped strand and roving GFRP composites with different ber orientation such as 0 , 45 and 90 . Fiber
orientation was not aected by the density and hardness of composites. At 90 ber orientation the maximum tensile strength was obtained. The short ber was
found to be reducing the impact strength.
Shyr et al.37 investigated the impact resistance and
damage characteristics of E-GF-reinforced polyester
composite with various thicknesses of the laminates
and three dierent glass fabrics were multiaxial warpknit blanket (MWK), woven fabric (W) and non-woven
mat (N). Impact tests were conducted using a guided
drop-weight test rig. The composites were prepared
with various layers with various Vfs of ber like 24
(sample code of N-13a, b and c), 28(sample code of
N-7a, b and c), 40 (sample code of R-800-13a, b and
c), 40 (sample code of R800-7a, b and c), 37 (sample
code of M-800-13a, b and c), 40 (sample code of M800-13a, b and c), 45 (sample code of MWK-800-13a, b
and c) and 46 (sample code of MWK-800-13a, b and c).
In code, 7 and 13 were the no of layers in the composites with a, b and c the 8, 16 and 24 nominal impact
energies (NIE), respectively. The test was conducted at
various velocity of drop weight. The maximum
Hertzian failure force of the laminates was found for
MWK-13 laminate in 16 NIE. The maximum Hertzian
failure energy of the laminates at various NIE was
found for M-80013 in 24 NIE. The major damage
energy at maximum impact load was found for
MWK-13 laminate in 16 NIE. The maximum subjected
energy and nal absorbed energies of the impenetrated
laminates at various NIE were found for MWK-13
laminate at 24 NIE.
Araujo et al.30 investigated the mechanical properties GF/virgin GF wastes-reinforced polyester matrix
composites with various ber weight content of ber
like 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60%, respectively. The polyester/virgin GF-reinforced composite showed higher tensile strength and modulus at 40% Wf. The maximum
impact strength and hardness were found at 40 and
40% Wf.
Hossain et al.38 investigated the exural and compression properties of woven E-GF-reinforced polyester matrix composites with addition of various weight
percentages of carbon nano ller (CNF). The test was
performed on the conventional and 0.1, 02, 03 and
0.4 wt% CNF-lled composites. The stress versus
strain curve showed that 0.2 wt% of CNF-lled composite obtained maximum mechanical properties. This

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Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 33(13)

was due to excellent dispersion, maximum enhancement in compressive strength, modulus and better interfacial interaction between ber and matrix.
Khelifa et al.39 investigated the fatigue behaviour of
E-GF-reinforced unsaturated polyester composite with
dierent orientation of ber (0 ,  45 , 0 /90 ).
Experimental and theoretical results reported that the
unidirectional [0 ] and cross-ply [0/90 ] composite
laminates had more static bending strength compared
to other laminated composites.
Baucom et al.40 investigated the low-velocity impact
damage of woven E-glass-reinforced vinyl-ester composites with various laminates like 2D plain-woven
laminate, a 3D orthogonally woven monolith and a
biaxial reinforced warp-knit. Drop-weight apparatus
result showed that the 3D composites was more resistant to penetration and dissipated more total energy
(140 J) compared to other systems.
Iba et al.41 investigated the mechanical properties of
unidirectional continuous GF-reinforced epoxy composites with three ber diameters like 18, 37, 50 mm,
respectively, and ber Vf from 0.25 to 0.45. The
stressstrain curve reported that the longitudinal
Youngs modulus and tensile strength of the composite
increased with increasing the ber Vf and the mean
strength increased with decreasing the ber diameter.
The maximum strength and modulus was higher for the
ber diameter of 18 mm at 0.45 Vf.
Yaacob et al.42 investigated the mechanical properties of E-GF-reinforced polypropylene composites prepared using injection moulding and compression
moulding processes. Results show that the tensile
strength decreased with the increasing of GF content.
The tensile modulus increased with increasing the ber
content and the maximum values were obtained at
12-mm ber length composites compared to 3 and
6 mm ber-length composites.
Mohbe et al.31 investigated the mechanical behaviour of glass ber reinforced polyester composites
with constant volume fraction of glass and Na-MMT
(sodium montmorillonite). Mechanical properties were
improved with increase in the Na-MMT quantity in
composites; 3% weight of Na-MMT was found
to have maximum tensile strength (130.03 MPa),
impact strength (153.50 kJ/m2) and exural strength
(205.152 MPa).
Gupta et al.7 investigated the compressive and
impact
behaviour
of
discontinuous
E-GFreinforced epoxy composites with addition of llers
such as y ash and calcium carbonate. Fly ash particles
led to reduced compressive and impact strength of the
composites compared to the calcium carbonate ller in
the composites. The aspect ratio of the ber increased
the compressive strength and decreased the impact
strength.

Pardo et al.43 investigated the tensile dynamic behaviour of a quasi-unidirectional E-glass/polyester composite. This composite was not a pure unidirectional
material; it was composed of 5% Vf of weft bers.
The weft bers Vf of 5% observed greater Youngs
modulus and improved the failure stress (40 MPa).
Yang et al.32 investigated the compression, bending
and shear behaviour of woven mat E-GF-reinforced
epoxy composites with dierent fabrics like unstitched
plain weave, biaxial non-crimp and uniaxial stitched
plain weave fabrics. From the experiments they have
concluded that the Z-directional stitching bers
increased the delamination resistance, reduced the
impact damage and as well as lowered the bending
strength of the composites. The compressive strength
of the non-crimp laminate was 15% higher than
woven fabric composite.
Hameed et al.44 investigated the dynamic mechanical
behaviour of E-GF-reinforced poly (styrene-co-acrylonitrile)-modied epoxy matrix composites with the different Vfs of bers ranging from 10% to 60%. Under
three-point bending mode the viscoelastic properties
were measured at the frequency of 1 Hz and samples
were heated up to 250 C at the heating rate of 1 C/min.
While increasing the temperature the storage modulus
decreases. Storage modulus versus temperature curve
reported that the 50 vol% ber content of composites
had the maximum storage modulus (15.606 GPa). Loss
modulus versus temperature plot indicated that the loss
modulus increased up to 50 vol% ber content. Further
increase in the ber content decreases the loss modulus.
Aktas et al.19 investigated the impact response unidirectional E-GF-reinforced epoxy matrix composite
with two dierent stacking sequences such as [0/90/0/
90] and [0/90/+45/45]. Damage process and damage
modes of laminates were investigated under varying
impact energies ranging from 5 J to 80 J. The penetration threshold for stacking sequence [0/90/+45/45]
was smaller than [0/90/0/90] and the mismatch coecient for [0/90/0/90] laminates were higher than [0/90/
+45/45] laminates.
Aktas et al.45 investigated compression after impact
(CAI)
behaviour
of
unidirectional
E-GF-reinforced epoxy matrix composite subjected to
low-velocity impact energy for various temperatures
such as 40 C, 60 C, 80 C and 100 C. Two stacking
sequences [0 /90 /0 /90 ] and [0 /90 /45 /45 ] were
tested to investigate the vertical and horizontal orientation eects on CAI strength and CAI damage mechanism. CAI strength decreases with increase in
temperature and impact energy. The maximum reduction in CAI strength was found between undamaged
specimen and impacted specimen at 100 C and 70 J
for each stacking sequences and each impact damage
orientation. The CAI strength of horizontal impact

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damage was lower than vertical impact damage for all

impact test temperatures and all energy levels.
Aktas et al.46 investigated the impact and postimpact behaviour of E-glass/epoxy eight plies laminated composites with dierent knitted fabrics such as
Plain, Milano and Rib. Dierent impact energy levels
were ranging from 5 J to 25 J. The experimental result
showed that the Rib knitted structure had maximum
mechanical properties for irregular ber architecture,
Milano knitted structure showed maximum performance in transverse direction and as well as better mechanical properties than Plain knitted structure.
Patnaik et al.33 investigated the mechanical behaviour of randomly oriented E-GF-reinforced epoxy composites with particulate lled like Al2O3, SiC and pine
bark dust and the dierent composition of specimen
were prepared such as GF (50 wt%) +epoxy
(50 wt%), GF (50 wt%) +epoxy (40 wt%) +alumina
(10 wt%), GF (50 wt%) +epoxy (40 wt%) +pine
bark
dust
(10 wt%),
GF
(50 wt%) + epoxy
(40 wt%) + SiC (10 wt%). The test result showed that
the GF + epoxy had maximum tensile strength
(249.6 MPa) and exural strength (368 MPa) than
other compositions, GF + epoxy + pine bark dust
combination having the maximum interlaminar shear
strength (23.46 MPa), GF + epoxy + SiC combination
having higher impact strength (1.840 J) and higher
hardness (42 Hv).
Karakuzu et al.47 investigated the impact behaviour
of unidirectional E-glass/epoxy composite plates with
the stacking sequence of plates selected as [0 /30 /60 /
90 ]. Four dierent impact energies were 10 J, 20 J,
30 J and 40 J and four impact masses were selected
like 5 kg, 10 kg, 15 kg and 20 kg. Absorbed energy
versus impact energy curve reported that the energy
absorption capability of the specimen subjected to
equal mass was lower than the specimen subjected to
equal velocity for the same impact energy.
Delamination area versus impactor mass curve
reported that the delamination area in the sample
was subjected to a lower impact mass with higher velocity was lower than the delamination area in the
sample was subjected to higher impact mass with
lower velocity for same impact energy.
Icten et al.48 investigated the low temperature eect
on impact response of quasi-isotropic unidirectional EGF-reinforced epoxy matrix composites with stacking
sequence [0 /90 /45 /45 ] tested at varied impact
energies ranging from 5 J to 70 J and the test were performed at dierent temperatures such as 20 C, 20 C
and 60 C. The experimental result showed that the
damage tolerance and impact response of the composite
was same for all temperatures up to the impact energy
of 20 J and after 20 J of impact energy, the temperature
aects the impact characteristics.

Liu et al.34 investigated interlaminar shear strength

of woven E-GF-reinforced/epoxy composites with
unmodied and modied matrix modication technique. Initial epoxy matrix was diglycidyl ether of
bisphenol-F/diethyl toluene diamine system and modied matrix was multiwalled carbon nanotubes
(MWCNT) and reactive aliphatic diluent named
n-butyl glycidyl ether system. The three point bending
test result showed that the modied epoxy/GF composite inter-laminar shear strength was higher than the
unmodied epoxy/GF composite; 0.5 wt% MWCNTs
and 10 phr butyl glycidyl ether (BGE) adding epoxy/
GF composite was 25.4% increased the inter laminar
shear strength (41.46 MPa) than unmodied
composites.
Belingardi et al.49 investigated the low-velocity
impact tests of woven and unidirectional GF-reinforced
epoxy matrix composite with three dierent stacking
sequences [0 /90 ], [0 /+60 /60 ] and [0 /+45 /
45 ]. Dierent impact velocities were (0.70, 0.99,
1.14, 1.72, 1.85, 1.98, 2.10, 2.22 and 2.42 m/s) and different deformation rate (25, 50, 100, 150, 175, 200, 225,
250 and 300 mm). The experimental result showed that
the maximum saturation energy (53.08 J) was found at
[0 /90 ] unidirectional composites compared with the
other stacking sequences.
Mohamed Nasr et al.50 investigated the fatigue
behaviour of woven roving GF-reinforced polyester
matrix composites with the ber Vf ranging from
55% to 65% and two dierent ber orientations like
[45 ] and [0 , 90 ]. The torsional fatigue test was performed on thin wall tubular specimens at dierent
negative stress ratios (R) such as 1, 0.75, 0.5,
0.25 and 0. The experimental result shows that the
strength degradation rate depends on the stress ratio
and the static strength of the material and the [45 ]
lay-up specimen had maximum failure rate.
Mohammad Torabizadeh35 investigated the tensile,
compressive, in-plane shear behaviour of unidirectional
GF-reinforced epoxy matrix composites under static
and low temperature (25 C, 20 C, 60 C) conditions.
The tensile test result showed that the stressstrain
curve decreases with increase in temperature.
The maximum tensile strength (784.94 MPa), youngs
modulus
(28.65 MPa),
compression
strength
(186.22 MPa) and shear strength (1.33  108 MPa)
was found at 60 C.
Ahmed El-Assal et al.51 investigated the fatigue
behaviour of unidirectional GF-reinforced orthophthalic polyester matrix composites under torsional and combined bending loads at room temperature and the
tests were conducted on constant deection fatigue
machine with the frequency of 25 Hz. Dierent ber
Vfs are used such as 15.8, 31.8 and 44.7%. The experimental result showed that the number of stress cycles and

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Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 33(13)

stress amplitude increased with the increase of ber Vf

and the composite specimen torsional fatigue strength
was lower compared to bending fatigue strength.
Mohan et al.23 investigated the mechanical properties of jatropha oil cake-lled woven mat E-GFreinforced epoxy composites. The experimental test
conducted at longitudinal direction of composite specimen and the surface fracture exposed that the similar
breakage of bers and matrix, which represent good
adhesion between bers and matrix. The experimental
result showed that 6 wt% of jatropha oil cake llers
lled composite specimen was found maximum tensile
strength (311 MPa) and tensile modulus (18.61 GPa)
but the surface hardness was slightly lower than unlled
composites.
Zaretsky et al.52 investigated the dynamic response
of woven GFs-reinforced epoxy composite subjected to
impact loading through ber direction and the impact
velocities ranging from 60 to 280 m/s. The free surface
velocity versus time curve shows that the impact
strength increased with increase of the shock wave velocity, the unloading wave speed was higher than compression wave speed and the wave speed decreased with
decrease of the pressure.
Godara et al.36 investigated the tensile behaviour of
GF-reinforced epoxy composite with the dierent
woven bers orientations like [0 ], [45 ] and [90 ].
The 35 wt% of short borosilicate GFs-reinforced with
multilayered cross woven composite with epoxy matrix.
The stress versus stain curve reported that the tensile
strength was strongly depend on the ber alignment to
the external load, [0 /90 ] laminate composites had the
maximum failure strength (355 MPa), low ductility and
low strain failure (1.65%) than [45 ].
Karakuzu et al.53 investigated the mechanical behaviour of woven mat GF-reinforced vinyl ester matrix
composites with circular hole and 63% ber Vf, the
dierent distance from free edge of plate (E) to diameter of hole (D) ratios are 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. During the
experiment the load is applied to longitudinal direction
of specimen, the tension mode experimental result
showed that the youngs modulus was found
20,769 MPa. The shear modulus (G12) was found
using following Equation (1),
Shear modulus G12

4
Ex

 E11

1
 E12  2E121

where, E1 E2 is the youngs modulus of the composites, from the above equation, the shear modulus was
found for 4133 MPa and n12 poisons ratio, the shear
strength (S) was obtained following Equation (2),
Shear strength S

max
ti c

where, r, ti and c were density, dimensions of specimen,

from the above equation, the shear strength were found
for 75 MPa.
Dandekar et al.54 investigated the compression
and release response behaviour of a woven mat S2
GF-reinforced polyester composites under shock loading applied up to 20 GPa. The stress and particle velocity properties were described the shock response, the
plate reverberation and shock and re-shock experimental result showed that the Hugoniot elastic limit (HEL)
of composites ranging from 1.3 GPa to 3.7 GPa.
LeBlanc et al.55 investigated the compressive
strength behaviour of woven mat S-2 GF-reinforced
Epoxy/Vinyl ester composites with four dierent areal
weights like 93, 98, 100 and 190 oz/yd2 and the composite specimen subjected to shock loading on experimentally, two dierent pressure applied on compressive
specimen such as 2.58 and 4.79 MPa. Compressive
strength versus pressure curve in weft direction result
showed 100 and 98 oz composites was obtained maximum strength but the warp direction 93, 98 and 190 oz
composites are maximum strength and nearly equal
under each pressure level.

Vibration characteristics of GFRP

matrix composites
Erden et al.4 investigated vibrational properties of
glass/polyester composites via matrix modication
technique. To achieve this, unsaturated polyester was
modied by incorporation of oligomeric siloxane in the
concentration range of 13 wt%. Modied matrix composites reinforced with woven roving glass fabric were
compared with untreated glass/polyester in terms
of mechanical and interlaminar properties by conducting tensile, exure and short-beam shear tests.
Furthermore, vibrational properties of the composites
were investigated while incorporating oligomeric siloxane. From the experiment it was found that the natural
frequencies of the composites were found to increase
with increasing siloxane concentration.
Sridhar et al.12 investigated the damping behaviour
of woven fabric GFRP composites under saline water
treatment with various ber volumes like 20, 25, 30, 35
and 40 and various time period using the logarithmic
decrement method. The damping factor value of
untreated specimen damping and stiness increased
with increase in ber volume percentage. Maximum
decrease in the damping values was observed for 40%
ber volume specimen.
Yuvaraja et al.56 investigated the vibration characteristics of a exible GFRP composite with shape
memory alloy (SMA) and piezoelectric actuators. In
rst case, the smart beam consists of a GFRP beam
modelled in cantilevered conguration with externally

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1269

attached SMAs. In second case, the smart beam consists of a GFRP beam with surface-bonded lead zirconate titanate (PZT) patches. To study the behaviour of
the smart beam a mathematical model is developed.
Using ANSYS the vibration suppression of smart
beam was investigated. The experimental work is carried out for both cases in order to evaluate the vibration
control of exible beam for rst mode, also to nd the
eectiveness of the proposed actuators. As a result of
the vibrational characteristic, GFRP beam is more
eective when SMA is used as an actuator. SMA actuator was more ecient than the PZT actuator because
very less voltage is required for actuation of SMA.
Bledzki et al.57 investigated the elastic constants of
unidirectional E-glass-reinforced epoxy matrix composite by the vibration testing of plates with two dierent
berssurface treatments. The rst type was treated by
epoxy dispersion with aminosilane to promote ber/
matrix adhesion and the second type was sized with
polyethylene to prevent ber/matrix adhesion. Elastic
properties were good for epoxy dispersion with aminosilane composite and poor for polyethylene composites.
Mishra58 investigated the vibration analysis of unidirectional GF-reinforced resol/vac-eha composites
(with varying Vf of GFs). Resol solution was blended
with vinyl acetate-2-ethylhexyl acrylate (vac-eha) resin
in an aqueous medium. The role of ber/matrix interactions in GFs-reinforced composites were investigated
to predict the stiness and damping properties.
Damping properties decreased after blending Vac-eha
copolymer content with resol, while increasing the GF
content in composite plate increases the damping properties. Due to incorporation of GFs in the matrix, the
tensile, stiness and damping properties were increased.
Colakoglu et al.13 investigated the damping and
vibration analysis of polyethylene ber composite
under various temperatures ranging from 10 C to
60 C. A damping monitoring method was used to
experimentally measure the frequency response and
the frequency was obtained numerically using a nite
element program. The damping properties, in terms of
the damping factor, were determined by the half-power
bandwidth technique. The experimental result showed
that the natural frequency and elastic modulus
decreased with increase in temperature.
Naghipour et al.14 investigated the vibration damping
of glued laminated beams reinforced with various lay ups
of E-GF-reinforced epoxy matrix composites by using
dierent methods such as, Hilbert transform, logarithmic decrement, moving block and half band power methods. Half band power method improves the accuracy
when considering the vibration damping of composite
materials possessing relatively high level of damping.
Furthermore, their experimental results indicated that
the addition of GRP-reinforcement in the bottom

surface of cantilever beams could signicantly improve

their stiness and strength characteristics.

Environmental behaviours of GFRP

matrix composites
Araujo et al.30 investigated the water absorption behaviour of ber glass wastes-reinforced polyester composites with dierent ber wastes like 20, 30 and 40%. The
test specimen immersed in distilled water at dierent
time interval up to 600 h and time versus water absorption curve was plotted. It resulted that the water sorption decreased with increase of ber content in
composite and the minimum water absorption was
found for polyester/berglass wastes (40%) composite.
Abdullah et al.59 investigated the eects of
weathering condition on mechanical properties of
GF-reinforced thermoset plastic composites. The mechanical properties were decreased with various weathering conditions such as humidity, temperature and
ultraviolet radiation and pollutant.
Botelho et al.60 investigated the environmental
behaviour of woven mat GF-reinforced poly etherimide thermoplastic matrix composites. The testing
was conducted with varying temperature at relative
humidity of 90% for 60 days under sea water. The
moisture absorption behaviour was mostly dependent
on temperature and relative humidity. The moisture
absorption curve reported that the weight gain was
initially increased linearly with respect to time. The
maximum moisture absorption of 0.18% was found
after 25 days.
Chhibber et al.61 investigated the environmental degradation of GFRP composite with dierent temperature such as 45 C and 55 C. This testing was
conducted in normal water and sodium hydroxide
(NaOH) bath after a time of 1 and 2 months. The percentage weight gain increased with increase of bath
time and temperature, NaOH bath found larger
weight gain compared with that of water bath.
Renaud et al.62 investigated the environmental
behaviour of E-GF-reinforced isophtalic polyester
composites with dierent GFs such as boro-silicate
and boron-free at dierent environmental conditions
such as strong acids, cement extract, salt water, tap
water and deionized water. The test was conducted at
60 C for lifetime of 50 years; the boron-free E-GF composite increased the resistance of moisture absorption
in all environmental conditions.
Kajorncheappunngam et al.20 investigated the eect
of aging environment on degradation of woven fabric
E-glass-reinforced epoxy with four dierent liquid
media such as distilled water, saturated salt solution,
5-molar NaOH solution and 1-molar hydrochloric acid
solution. Water immersion had the lower damage than

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Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 33(13)

acid or alkali soaking and lower immersion did not

aect the mechanical properties.
Agarwal et al.63 investigated the environmental
eects of randomly oriented E-GF-reinforced polyester composites with dierent environmental conditions
such as brine, acid solution, ganga water, freezing
conditions and kerosene oil. The test conducted at
dierent interval of time such as 64 h, 128 h and
256 h. The percentage reduction in tensile strength
decreased after every interval of time, the maximum
percentage reduction was found on NaOH solution
and minimum percentage reduction was found on
freezer condition.
Ellyin et al.64 investigated the moisture absorption
behaviour of E-glass-reinforced ber epoxy composite
tubes. They were immersed in distilled water at two
dierent temperatures such as 20 C and 50 C. The
test was conducted in distilled water for 4 months.
The time versus moisture absorption curve reported
that 0.23% weight gain was found at 20 C and 0.29%
weight gain was found at 50 C.
Abbasi et al.65 investigated the environmental
behaviour of GFRP composites with dierent combinations such as GF/isophthalic polyester, GF/vinyl ester
and GF/urethane-modied vinyl ester. The test was
conducted at dierent temperatures from 20 C to
120 C for 30 days, 120 days and 240 days under
normal water and alkaline environments. The GF composites strength and modulus were decreased in alkali
environment at higher temperatures.
Visco et al.10 investigated the mechanical properties
of GF-reinforced polyester composites before and after
immersion in seawater. Two dierent types of polyester
resins, such as isophthalic and orthophthalic, and two
dierent types of laminates were used for composites
preparation. One laminate contained ve layers of
reinforcement with isophthalic polyester resin and
another was obtained by laminating four layers of
reinforcement with orthophthalic resin and one external layer with isophthalic. The experimental result
showed that exural modulus, exural strength and
shear modulus decreased with increase in immersion
time. Isophthalic resin was better bonding with GFs,
which was resisting the seawater absorption compared
to orthophthalic resin.

Thermal properties of GFRP matrix

composites
Husic et al.27 investigated the thermal properties of Eglass-reinforced soy-based polyurethane composites
with two dierent types of polyurethane such as soybean oil and petrochemical polyol Jeol. Soy-based
polyurethanes had better thermal stability than petrochemical polyol Jeol-based polyurathene.

Hameed et al.11 investigated the thermal behaviour

of chopped strand E-GF-reinforced modied epoxy
composites with dierent Vf of bers such as 10%,
20%, 30%, 40%, 50% and 60%. The test was conducted in nitrogen atmosphere at the temperature
range from 30 C to 900 C. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed that 60% Vf of composites had
higher thermal stability and its degradation temperature was shifted from 357 C to 390 C.
Budai et al.66 investigated the thermal behaviour of
chopped strand mat E-GF-reinforced unsaturated
polyester composite with dierent number of glass
mat layers such as 4, 6 and 11 layers and dierent
GF such as viapal and aropol using TGA and heat
distortion temperature (HDT) analysis. The test was
conducted between 30 C and 700 C in purging nitrogen
and between 30 C and 550 C in purging oxygen.
Increasing GF content in composite delayed the
thermo-oxidative decomposition.
Lopez et al.3 investigated the thermo-analysis of
E-GF waste polyester composite without ller. The
TGA/dierential thermogravimetric (DTG) curve
showed that the degradation temperature shifted from
209.8 C to 448.7 C and mass loss shifted from 1.8 wt%
to 4.4 wt%.

Tribological behaviours of GFRP matrix

composites
El-Tayeb et al.67 investigated the worn surfaces of
chopped GF-reinforced unsaturated polyester composites of parallel/anti-parallel (P/AP) chopped GF
orientations with various sliding velocities such as
2.8, 3.52, 3.9 m/s and various load of 30, 60, 90 N
at ambient temperature. The experimental result
showed that sliding in P-orientation had lower friction
coecient at lower load and higher speed compared
to AP-orientation. Sliding in AP-orientation had
lower friction coecient at higher load, speed and
distance compared to P-orientation. AP-orientation
exhibited less mass loss (16%) compared to the
P-orientation.
El-Tayeb et al.16 investigated the multipass twobody abrasive wear behaviour of CGRP composites
with various sliding velocities such as 0.157 and
0.314 m/s and the applied normal loads of ranging
from 5 N to 25 N. The test was conducted with sliding
against water-proof SiC abrasive paper under dry contact condition. Wear rate decreased with increasing
load and decreasing rotational speed. AP-orientation
enhanced the abrasive resistance of CGRP composite.
They concluded that AP-orientation had lowest wear
rate than other orientations and scanning electron
microscope (SEM) result indicated AP-orientation
had no ber damage.

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Quintelier et al.68 investigated the friction and wear

behaviour of GF-reinforced polyester composites with
loading range from 60 to 300 N at a constant speed of
10 mm/s under dry conditions. The SEM observations
showed that parallel orientation had lower friction than
transverse orientation.
Mathew et al.2 investigated the tribological properties of E-GF-reinforced polyester composites with various directly oriented warp knit bers such as biaxial,
biaxial non-woven, tri-axial and quad-axial fabric with
various thermoset resins like polyester, vinyl ester and
epoxy resin. Biaxial non-woven-reinforced vinyl ester
composite had better performance than other
combinations.
Kishore et al.15 investigated the eects of velocity
and load on the sliding wear behaviour of plain weave
bi-directional E-glass fabric-reinforced epoxy composites with dierent llers such as oxide particle and
rubber particle under the sliding velocity between 0.5
and 1.5 m/s at three dierent loads of 42, 140 and
190 N. Block on roller test result showed that the
oxide particle-lled composite had better wear resistance compared to rubber particles at low load conditions. But during higher load condition, rubber
particles had better wear resistance than oxide
particles.
Yousif et al.69 investigated the friction and interface
temperature behaviour of chopped strand mat GFreinforced unsaturated polyester composites with various sliding velocities such as 2.8, 3.52 and 3.9 m/s and
various loads 30, 60 and 90 N under dry contact sliding
against smooth stainless steel. Parallel and anti-parallel
chopped GF orientations were measured at ambient
temperature. The AP-orientation had more friction
coecients (0.50.6) and interface temperature (29 to
50 C) compared to P-orientation.
Chand et al.70 investigated the three-body abrasive
wear behaviour of short E-GF-reinforced polyester
composites with and without ller at various sliding
speed, abrasive particle size and applied load.
Increasing the weight fraction of ber in composite
decreased the volume loss of composite. They have concluded that higher GF content had less wear loss.
Suresha et al.21 investigated the role of llers in wear
and friction behaviour of woven mat GF-reinforced
epoxy composites with varying load and sliding velocities under dry sliding conditions. Two dierent inorganic llers were added such as SiC particles (5 wt%)
and graphite (5 wt%). The SEM observation reported
that graphite-lled composites have lower coecient of
friction than unlled SiC-lled composites and SiClled composite exhibited the maximum wear
resistance.
Sampathkumaran et al.71 investigated the wear
behaviour of GF-reinforced epoxy composite under

dry sliding condition. The varying test parameters

were applied load (2060 N), velocity (24 m/s) and
sliding distance (0.56 km). Pin on disc experimental
result showed that increasing the load and velocity
increased the weight loss. The debris rate was lower
for smaller distance and higher for larger distance.
Yousif et al.72 investigated the wear and friction
behaviour of chopped strand mat GF polyester composites with various loads (30 N to 100 N) under wet
contact condition using two dierent test techniques
such as pin-on-disc and block-on-ring. This was conducted with two dierent ber orientations like parallel
and anti-parallel. From the experiment, they concluded
that presence of water content increased the roughness
value in both orientations. Moreover, anti-parallel
orientation had more wear and frictional resistance
than parallel orientation.
Suresha et al.73 investigated the friction and wear
behaviour of E-GF (woven mat)-reinforced epoxy
composites with and without SiC particles. The
result showed that (5 wt%) SiC particles-lled composite had higher coecient of friction and higher
resistance to wear at sliding distance ranging from
2000 m to 4000 m compared to without SiC-lled
composites.
Pihtili et al.74 investigated the wear behaviour of ECGRP composite with the sliding distances of
235.5 mm, 471 mm, 706.5 mm, 942 mm, 1177.5 mm,
1413 mm, 1648.5 mm and 1884 mm. When the sliding
distance exceeds 942 mm weight loss of the plain polyester was increased. The result showed that GF-reinforced polyester matrix composite was more wear
resistant than the plain polyester.
Mohan et al.23 investigated the sliding wear
behaviour of Jatropha oil cake-lled woven fabric
E-GF-reinforced epoxy composites with dierent
loads (10 and 20 N). The pin on disc setup result
showed that the wear loss increased with increase of
sliding distance. Wear loss was observed at 2000 m sliding distance at 10 N applied load. The jatropha oil
cake-lled glass epoxy composite had good wear resistance and high coecient of friction at various sliding
distances.
Suresha et al.22 investigated the three-body abrasive wear behaviour of woven E-GF-reinforced
vinyl ester composites with particulate-lled like
SiC and graphite llers. The test was conducted at different loads such as 22 and 32 N under the sliding distance ranging from 270 to 1080 m. The experimental
result showed that the graphite and silicon-lled composites had more abrasion resistance and lower specic
wear rate (1.95  1011 m3/(Nm)) than unlled
composites.
Patnaik et al.33 investigated the wear behaviour of
randomly oriented E-GF-reinforced epoxy composites

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Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 33(13)

with particulate-lled like Al2O3, SiC and pine bark

dust. The dierent compositions of specimens were prepared using GF (50 wt%)/Epoxy (50 wt%), GF
(50 wt%)/Epoxy (40 wt%)/Alumina (10 wt%), GF
(50 wt%)/Epoxy (40 wt%)/Pine bark dust (10 wt%),
GF (50 wt%)/Epoxy (40 wt%)/SiC (10 wt%). The
experimental tests were conducted at dierent loads
like 50 and 75 N and the sliding distance ranging
from 200 m to 600 m. They have concluded that GF
(50 wt%)/Epoxy (40 wt%)/Pine bark dust (10 wt%)
composite had better wear resistance (0.000881
0.001365 mm3/(N-m)) for all sliding distance.
Chauhan et al.75 investigated the friction and wear
behaviour of bi-directional woven fabric S-GFreinforced vinyl ester composites with 65 wt% of ber
and the resin mixed with dierent co-monomer such as
methyl acrylate and butyl acrylate. Three dierent compositions of specimens were prepared such as GF +
(vinyl ester + styrene), GF + (vinyl ester + methyl
crylate) and GF + (vinyl ester + butyl acrylate).
The test were conducted at various sliding velocities
like 1, 2, 3 and 4 m/s and various loads like 10, 20, 30
and 40 N under dry sliding condition. GF + (vinyl
ester + butyl acrylate) composite had higher specic
wear rate and lower co-ecient of friction at lower
sliding speed.

Application
. Electronics: GRP has been widely used for circuit
board manufacture (PCBs), TVs, radios, computers,
cell phones, electrical motor covers etc.
. Home and furniture: Roof sheets, bathtub furniture,
windows, sun shade, show racks, book racks, tea
tables, spa tubs etc.
. Aviation and aerospace: GRP has been extensively
used in aviation and aerospace though it is not
widely used for primary airframe construction, as
there are alternative materials which better suit the
applications. Typical GRP applications are engine
cowlings, luggage racks, instrument enclosures,
bulkheads, ducting, storage bins and antenna enclosures. It is also widely used in ground-handling
equipment.
. Boats and marine: Its properties are ideally suited to
boat construction. Although there were problems
with water absorption, the modern resins are
more resilient and they are used to make the
simple type of boats. In fact, GRP is lower
weight materials compared to other materials like
wood and metals.
. Medical: Because of its low porosity, non-staining
and hard wearing nish, GRP is widely suited to
medical applications. From instrument enclosures

to X-ray beds (where X-ray transparency is important) are made up of GRP.

. Automobiles: GRP has been extensively used for
automobile parts like body panels, seat cover
plates, door panels, bumpers and engine cover.
However, GRP has been widely used for replacing
the present metal and non-metal parts in the various
applications and tooling costs are relatively low as compared with metal assemblies.

Conclusion
The mechanical, dynamics, tribological, thermal and
water absorption properties of GFRP composites
have been discussed. The important application of
these composites has highlighted.
. The various preparation technologies were used for
preparing the GRP composites with various environmental conditions.
. Ultimate tensile strength and exural strength of the
ber glass polyester composite increased with
increase in the ber glass Vf of ber weight fractions.
. The elastic strain of the composite increased with the
ber glass Vf up to 0.25, and then subsequently
decreased with further increase in ber glass Vf.
. The Youngs modulus of elasticity of the composite
increased with the ber glass Vf.
. The damping properties of GRP were improved by
increasing the GF content in composite and the natural frequency was measured for all conditions.
. The water absorption was analyzed for various
environmental conditions with dierent time
period. The water absorption decreased the mechanical properties of the composites.
. The coecient of friction at various sliding distances
and loading condition were analyzed with various
ber orientations like random, woven mat, longitudinal, P/AP chopped GF. The lower wear was found
for more ber incorporated in the polymers.
For improving the composites properties, the bers
were treated with various chemicals and matrix blend
with suitable chemical for making the GRP composites.
This may improve the mechanical, thermal, tribological
properties of the GRP composites.
Funding
This research received no specic grant from any funding
agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-prot sectors.

Conflict of interest
None declared.

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