Article Sidebar
Article Details
Copyright belongs to the Faculty of Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
The contents of the articles are the sole opinion of the author(s) and not of NIJOTECH.
NIJOTECH allows open access for distribution of the published articles in any media so long as whole (not part) of articles are distributed.
A copyright and statement of originality documents will need to be filled out clearly and signed prior to publication of an accepted article. The Copyright form can be downloaded from https://www.nijotech.com/downloads/COPYRIGHT%20FORM.pdf while the Statement of Originality is in Statement of Originality.pdf (nijotech.com)
For articles that were developed from funded research, a clear acknowledgement of such support should be mentioned in the article with relevant references. Authors are expected to provide complete information on the sponsorship and intellectual property rights of the article together with all exceptions.
It is forbidden to publish the same research report in more than one journal.
Main Article Content
Environmental Effects on Tensile Strength and Other Mechanical Properties of Hand Lay-Up GRP Panels
Abstract
The use of fiber reinforced composites as structural mechanical components is on the increase. Glass reinforced plastics (GRP) are the least-priced and most commonly used on account of their several advantages over the more expensive composites. Production related defects in these composites frequently promote degradations in mechanical properties when exposed to hostile media. Coupon test specimens cut from a GRA automobile panel, produced by hand lay-up technique, were investigated for responses to specific environmental conditions. Results indicate up to about 30% reductions in tensile strengths and tensile moduli due to exposure to wetness or diurnal cycling of wetting, drying and temperature variations. These effects tend to be reversible upon thorough drying. However continuous soaking in mud appears to have more permanent effects on the tensile modulus, with a 20% reduction even after washing and drying. Exposure to wet conditions also resulted in less brittle failure, with about 23% increases in the maximum strains.
