Influence of different glass fiber sizings on selected mechanical properties of PET/glass composites

The properties of fiber-reinforced plastics are considerably influenced by fiber-matrix interaction. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of glass fiber surface treatments on the morphology of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and on selected mechanical properties of unidirectional PET/glass fiber composites. The materials used here were E-glass fibers treated with model sizings including aminosilane as a coupling agent and polyurethane and epoxy resin dispersions as film formers and PET as the matrix. For identification of the degree of crystallinity of the PET matrix, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used. To study the influence of the different sizings on the mechanical properties, the following tests were performed: interlaminar and intralaminar shear tests and a transverse tensile test. Dynamic-mechanical analysis (DMA) was used to characterize the behavior of the composites under dynamical load. The DSC results show that the overall crystallinity and the melting behavior of the PET matrix were hardly influenced by the glass fiber surface treatments used. The various strength properties of the composites are influenced not only by the silane coupling agent, but also by the type of film former. With an epoxy resin dispersion, the mechanical properties were enhanced compared with a polyurethane dispersion. These results were confirmed by characterization of the composites by DMA.