STRESS-RELAXATION BEHAVIOR OF UNIDIRECTIONAL POLYETHYLENE-GLASS FIBERS PMMA COMPOSITE LAMINATES

Unidirectional composite laminates based on glass fibres (GF) and high performance polyethylene fibres (PEF) and their hybrids were prepared with partially polymerized methyl methacrylate at room temperature, f ollowed by heating at 55 degrees C (well below the softening point of PEF) for 2 h. The stress relaxation behaviour of the composites were d etermined and analysed. It was found that at all strain levels, the ra te of stress relaxation decreased by incorporation of GF in GF-reinfor ced composite laminates (GFRC) but the reversed behaviour was found in the case of PEF-reinforced composite laminate (PEFRC). An interesting observation of the study was that the rate of stress relaxation decre ased linearly in two steps in the case of PEFRC, whereas in the case o f GFRC, it decreased in one step. The rate of stress relaxation was in creased with the increase of relative proportion of PEF in the hybrid composites and at a higher proportion of PEF, it decreased in two step s like PEFRC. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.