The Effect of (E-glass) Fibers and Glass Powder Addition on the Alternating Fatigue Behavior of Unsaturated Polyester Resin

In this research, our concentration was directed to study the effect of weight fraction of the reinforcement materials (E-Glass) chopped strand laminates fibers, (E-Glass) continuous fibers and Glass powder, on the alternating bending fatigue behavior of the unsaturated polyester matrix (polymeric composite).
The result of this study reveals that the variation of the weight fraction percentage of the reinforcement materials could affect the fatigue resistance of the produced composite.
It has been noticed that the increase in the weight percentage fraction of both, glass laminates fibers (No. of laminates) and the glass continuous fibers, contributed effectively to improve the fatigue resistance, this reflects the longer fatigue life of the composites, that increase in the fatigue life could approach to more than hundred times, in the case of using glass laminate fibers and to more than twenty four times, in the case of using glass continuous fibers, at the same stress levels (9MPa), and the same percentage of weight fraction (6wt%).
The result obtained of fatigue test in the case of using glass powder, suggests that the fatigue life depends on the percentage of weight fraction. The results also reveal an improvement in fatigue life three times longer for the weight fraction (2.5wt%), of glass powder, but the higher weight fraction (6wt%), reduced the fatigue life to a third compared to unreinforced base matrix.