Publication

Abstract : In this work, hybrid fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) composites consisting of glass fiber-reinforced plastic (GFRP) reinforced with resin epoxy and liquid silicone rubber with fine aluminum powder (particle size range 50–54 microns) or fine silica powder (particle size range 5–10 microns) are made using the hand layup technique. The composites are then prepared in a compression molding machine. Temperature, pressure, and other process factors are optimized in addition to the tensile stress. The mechanical characteristics of the fabricated composites, such as tensile stress, flexural stress, and impact strength, will be investigated using SEM images of the damaged surfaces. The result reviles that the most important variable is found to be temperature, and ANOVA is used to optimize the tensile test procedure parameters. Three critical process factors were optimized: pressure, temperature, and duration; these were 100 kg/f (980 N), 500 °C, and 40 min. Under the identical ideal process parameters of pressure 100 kgf (980 N), temperature 500 °C, and duration 40 min, the combination of 0.6F + 0.32E + 0.04SR + 0.04SP yields the maximum tensile and flexural stresses. Combining silicon rubber with GFRP led to an increase in impact stress, which peaked in the 50% GFRP + 42% LY556 (Resin) + 4% SR + 4% Al Powder combination at the same optimal processing parameters of 100 kg/cm2 (980 N), 500 °C, and 40 min.