Production of epoxy/e-glass composites using “clean pultrusion”

Arar, Naseem (2014). Production of epoxy/e-glass composites using “clean pultrusion”. University of Birmingham. M.Res.

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Abstract

The primary aim of the work reported in this thesis was to develop an environmentally friendly pultrusion technique for the production of the fibre reinforced composites. The resin bath used in the conventional pultrusion was replaced with two custom-designed resin impregnators (prototypes-I and prototypes-II).

The primary aspect of the resin impregnators was to reduce the time for through-thickness impregnation by spreading the fibre bundles. Two rigs were designed and evaluated to spread the rovings: an automated fibre spreading rig and a serpentine fibre spreading unit. The serpentine fibre spreading unit was seen to give the best results. In a separate set of experiments it was shown that the through-thickness impregnation of the fibre bundles was improved by spreading.

The composites were produced using the resin impregnators (prototypes-I and prototypes-II) at three pultrusion speeds. Reference samples were also obtained from dip-type resin bath. The physical and mechanical properties of the pultruded composites were compared. It was shown that the properties of the composites were enhanced whilst using “Clean” pultrusion as compared to the conventional resin-bath system.

In conclusion it was shown that the “Clean” pultrusion could be used as an alternative to the conventional resin bath pultrusion.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Masters by Research > M.Res.)

Award Type:

Masters by Research > M.Res.

Supervisor(s):