Effects of Environmental Factors on Flexural Properties of Long Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite 2021-26-0257

Environmental regulation, operating cost reduction and meeting stringent safety norms are the predominant challenges for the automotive sector today. Automotive OEMs are facing equally aggressive challenges to meet high fuel efficiency, superior performance, low cost and weight with enhanced durability and reliability. One of the key technologies which enable light weighting and cost optimization is the use of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composite in automotive chassis systems. FRP composites have high specific strength, corrosion and fatigue resistance with additional advantage of complex near net shape manufacturing and tailor made properties. These advantages makes FRPs an ideal choice for replacing conventional steel chassis automotive components.

However, FRP’s face challenges from operating environment, in particular temperature and moisture. In the present study, the effect of environmental variables like temperature, moisture on properties of FRP was studied on epoxy based E-Glass fibre composite. The change in properties such as Flexural strength, Chord Modulus, Chord Stiffness were measured for each simulated operating condition. This work will aid to create a material property data base, which an automotive design engineer can use to design safe and realible FRP structural aggregates.