The failure behaviour of fibreglass sandwich panels with structured internal cores (z-cored panels) was studied in bending. A finite element model was developed for the simulation of three point bending tests and this has been validated against experimental results. The model was able to predict both the elastic response and, more importantly, the failure behaviour of the structure. It is therefore suitable for use in the optimising the design of z-core sandwich panels for transport applications. The same modelling approach was also applied to the structural behaviour of a larger sandwich panel with a metallic insert which was employed in the design of a semitrailer as part of a demonstration of the viability of the technology.

Experimental studies have been performed to obtain creep compliance functions of polypropylene (PP) and Glass Mat reinforced Thermoplastics (GMT) with PP matrix. It was found that both GMT and PP in the considered loading region may be considered as linear viscoelastic materials. The obtained viscoelastic compliance functions were successfully used to describe material behavior in the stress relaxation test. A micromechanical model based on the correspondence principle in the Laplace domain was developed to describe the viscoelastic behavior of GMT. This model considers the GMT composite with a given fiber orientation distribution function as consisting of an infinite number of unidirectional layers with orientations corresponding to this distribution function. The viscoelastic properties of the unidirectional layer are calculated using Hashin's concentric cylinder model that uses the experimentally determined viscoelastic properties of PP matrix. The predictions for GMT have been compared with experimental data. The model predicts rather good initial properties of GMT but it gives slightly less time dependence than compared to experimental data for both relaxation functions and compliance. The cause of the difference (debonding) between matrix and fiber, nonuniform fiber spatial distribution, stress concentrations etc.) is discussed.

A glass-mat-reinforced thermoplastic (GMT) composite material has been fabricated from randomly oriented continuous glass fibers embedded in a polypropylene matrix. The mechanical constitution of this composite has been characterized by using a linear viscoelastic micromechanically based material model. This material model has subsequently been implemented to several finite-element computer codes for analysis of structural components fabricated from polypropylene GMT. In this paper several example problems have been studied in order to determine the applicability of this modeling approach to predicting time-dependent deformations due to creep in GMT components. These example problems have been solved by utilizing two commercially available codes: ABAQUS, and ANSYS. Furthermore, results obtained with the codes have been compared to both analytic and experimental results, with varying degrees of success. The paper details these results for each of the example problems considered herein.

Abstract Vacuum infusion is a resin injection technique derived from resin transfer molding. This article discusses the characteristics of the technique and its applications. It presents the theory and background of the technique and provides an illustration of how parts are made. The article provides information on the equipment and material used for vacuum infusion. It describes the mechanical properties of components and summarizes the influence of production on the properties. The article concludes with a discussion on design guidelines.

This study examines how the mechanical properties in GMT are affected by axisymmetric flow during compression molding. Two types of GMT with different architecture are used, swirled mat and short fiber GMT. Tree different grades are tested for each fiber architecture 20, 30, and 40% fiber content by weight. These are in principle the grades of GMT. commercially available today. It is found that the flow reduced the tensile strength by 30 to 50% and the tensile modulus up to 30% in the flow direction. The reduction in mechanical properties, which is mainly caused by flow-induced fiber orientation, is larger at high fiber contents. The study also skewed that there is no major difference in behavior between swirled mat and short fiber GMT regarding flow induced fiber orientation.