Tensile properties of glass fiber‐reinforced polyester composites at extreme cold temperatures

Abstract Glass fiber‐reinforced polymers are widely used in structural systems as load‐bearing elements at both high and low temperatures. This investigation presents the evaluation of glass fiber‐reinforced unsaturated polyester under quasi‐static tension loading at extremely cold temperatures. This work includes the preparation of polyester resin sheets and E‐glass fiber cloth reinforced polyester composite to determine the tensile properties and failure modes over a range of high to very cold temperatures over 60°C to −80°C. The results show that fiber reinforced polyester has higher strength at all temperatures compared to the unreinforced polyester matrix. The reinforced specimens exhibit a more uniform brittle trend at temperatures below room temperature (RT) and a reasonable ductility at and above RT. Tensile properties of the unreinforced material were found to degrade above RT. The composite has the highest strength at the lowest temperature of −80°C. Both monolithic and reinforced polyester are brittle in nature at temperatures below RT, though reinforced composites show slight ductility.