An experimental study on the behavior of glass-epoxy composite at low strain rates

Glass-fiber reinforced plastics are extensively employed in many different applications. This paper in concerned with the rate dependency of mechanical behavior of a type of these composites, namely RE200 glass/epoxy, at low strain rates. With this regard, several tensile tests were carried out by employing a 600 kN Instron testing machine. The experiments were conducted at strain rates ranging from 0.0001 to 0.11 s−1 with specimens having different fiber orientations. Based on the results obtained in this research work, the longitudinal strength and stiffness increased 24.7% and 4.2%, respectively, by increasing the strain rate from 0.0001 to 0.11 s−1. This implies that certain mechanical properties of some polymer matrix composites could be rate dependant, even at low strain rates. To evaluate the ultimate strength of the glass/epoxy composite under consideration in terms of strain and strain rate, employing the experimental findings obtained in the present investigation, some relationships are proposed in this paper.