Wet Laid Fibreglass Composites

  • Sheraz Siddique Yousfani

    Student thesis: Phd

    Abstract

    This study investigated the manufacturing process of thermo-set fibreglass nonwoven composites. Techniques of manufacturing nonwoven webs from chopped strands were investigated and from the literature review it was found that the wet laid method was appropriate. The process of manufacturing paper hand sheets from pulp was modified to manufacture flat fibreglass nonwoven webs. The effects of dispersion and fibre length on the quality of these webs were investigated. It was found that the quality of these webs improved due to the dispersion.These nonwoven webs were then impregnated with epoxy resin by using the resin infusion method of vacuum bagging to make composite samples. The effects of dispersion, fibre length and multiple layering on the quality and mechanical properties of these composites were studied. It was found that it is necessary to disperse the fibreglass strands in order to manufacture composites of better quality. The quality and strength of these composites also improved due to the increase in the fibre length and multiple layering. Some initial studies were done to manufacture 3D fibreglass nonwoven webs by using the vacuum forming technique and 3D fibreglass nonwoven composites were also made using these webs. Initial investigation of the physical properties of these 3D composites was conducted and it was found that the void content decreased and the density had slightly increased due to the multiple layering process. This topic can be further investigated in the future.
    Date of Award31 Dec 2010
    Original languageEnglish
    Awarding Institution
    • The University of Manchester
    SupervisorHugh Gong (Supervisor)

    Keywords

    • Fibreglass composites,
    • Nonwoven composites
    • Wet laid nonwoven
    • Fibreglass nonwovens

    Cite this

    '