Comparimg Rigidising Methods Using Reenforced Material - Literature review Example

Glass fibers are more effective in achieving shear strengthening. Various methods can be used in the reinforcement of polymers using carbon or glass fibers. Some of the methods include curing pressure increase and filler incorporation and vacuum infusion. This paper outlines a comparison among the various rigidising methods using reinforced material to increase the general strength of the materials. The electrical conductivity of the materials has also been analyzed [8]. Curing pressure increase and filler incorporation This ridigising method enhances the through-thickness thermal conductivity of carbon fiber polymer-matrix.

This method is used to increase heat dissipation by enhancing the low through-thickness thermal conductivity of carbon fiber polymers. The conductivity is normally raised by 60 percent by enhancing the curing pressure from 0.1 to 2.0 MPa and almost by 35 percent by incorporation of a filler. This was reported in an experiment conducted at Composite Materials Research Laboratory in the University of Buffalo [4]. The experiments were conducted to determine the effect of curing pressure and filler incorporation on the mechanical and conductivity properties on a material.

The mechanical test was conducted on a 15-lamina crossply composite plate under flexure using a hydraulic mechanical testing procedure. The thermal resistivity (m2 K/W) and the thermal resistant (K/W) were used to report the increase in thermal conductivity of the resultant material after this treatment. The thermal resistivity increased after a raise of the curing pressure from 0.1 to 2 MPa. This resistivity further increased after the filler incorporation [4]. This implies that the thermal conductivity of the material increased after subjecting the material to the two treatments.

It was also noted that increasing curing pressure increases the through-thickness thermal conductivity more that the filler incorporation. The experiment revealed that the optimum through-thickness thermal conductivity achieved through the process was 1.5 W/m K. The highest ever recorded value for this form of rigidness enhancement technique is 3.3 W/m K. this does not imply that the process is ineffective or inconsistent. The difference could have aroused due to the process prepreg. The material resistivity and intralaminar fiber-fiber interfacial resistivity are lowered by close to 56 Percent by enhancing the curing pressure and by around 36 percent though the filler incorporation [4].

This further proves that curing pressure increase is more useful in increasing thermal conductivity compared to filler incorporation. Vacuum infusion Vacuum infusion of vinyl ester resin into biaxial knitted glass and carbon fiber complexes enhances the strengths of the materials under tensile and indentation forces. The carbon fiber complexes after this vacuum infusion are mechanically stronger when subjected to loading pressures [7]. The strengths of the carbon fiber material can be proved by carrying out various tests including tensile strength test, compression strength test, open hole tensile (OHT) strength test and Open hole compression (OHC) strength test.

An experiment conducted at the department of mechanical engineering in Lehigh University proved that in deed the mechanical properties of carbon fiber complexes is enhanced through vacuum infusion using vinyl ester resins. In the experiment, the tensile strength