Dispersion of Mechanical Properties of High-Strength Glass Fibre Composites in Hygrothermal Environment

Abstract

High-strength glass fibre-reinforced composites (H-GFRPs) are widely used in various engineering fields because of their excellent mechanical properties and designability. The mechanical properties of H-GFRPs are more sensitive to temperature and humidity. Under high temperature and humidity conditions, the properties decrease greatly and the dispersion increases. Tensile, compressive, and in-plane shear tests were carried out on five batches of H-GFRPs under five different conditions, and the strength and stiffness properties under different test conditions were obtained. In this paper, the strength and stiffness properties of H-GFRPs under room temperature and hygrothermal conditions are statistically analysed based on macroscopic test data and the meso-bridging model. The results showed that under hygrothermal conditions, the dispersion of performance tended to decrease. The distribution types of other parameters are consistent with those under room temperature conditions, except for the transverse tensile modulus E22,t and longitudinal compressive strength Xc, which tend to follow a normal distribution. Among the four stiffness performance parameters, the correlation between v12 and the other three stiffness parameters was weak, whereas that between the other three stiffness parameters was strong.

Keywords

• dispersion
• high-strength glass fibre composites
• hygrothermal environment
• composite structure
• mechanical property