Mechanical Characterization of the Glass Fibres/Rubber/Resin Composite Material

Abstract

Abstract: The paper proposes a way of using of the recycled rubber for the manufacturing of a hybrid composite material based on epoxy resin, reinforced both with glass woven fabrics and with recycled rubber. One presents the mechanical characteristics of this composite material, measured in: flexural test by using the method of the three points and impact testing with Charpy pendulum. The work also describes some aspects concerning to the effects of the water absorption on the mechanical behaviour in flexural testing after 2980 h (124 days) of immersion in water, at room temperature. Finally, the experimental results obtained were comparatively analysed for both the dried and wet specimens. One could remark a degradation of the mechanical characteristics (elastic modulus E, flexural strength sigma, mechanical work W until the maximum force). Concerning the impact behaviour, it was measured the failure energy U and then computed the resilience K (impact strength). It was observed that additionally reinforcing with rubber particles leads to the increasing of the resilience K.