Original paper(Vol.46 No.4 pp.380)

Solid particle erosion behavior of FRP degraded by hot water

Miyazaki Noriyuki; Funakura Seiji

Abstract:Experiments were carried out to study the solid particle erosion behavior of FRP degraded by hot water. The FRP used was unsaturated polyester resin reinforced by chopped glass fiber mat. The test specimens were soaked in hot water of 80 deg. and the degraded test specimens were used in the erosion tests. The Vickers hardness of a resin part in the FRP was measured and the interlaminar shear strength of the FRP was obtained from short beam three-point bending tests. According to these test data, the resin became ductile and the interface between resin and fibers was weakened due to the degradation by hot water. It is found from the erosion test data that the erosion behavior of the degraded FRP is affected both by increasing ductility of the resin which results in decreasing the erosion rate and by decreasing the interfacial strength between resin and fiber which results in increasing the erosion rate.

Key Words:erosion, FRP degraded by hot water, unsaturated polyester, doped glass fiber mat, Vickers hardness, interlaminar shear strength