Recycled content in polymer matrix composites through the use of A‐glass fibers

Abstract The utility of recycled A‐glass (primarily composed of soda‐lime‐silicate) fibers as reinforcement for structural composites has been studied. A series of plaques of unsaturated polyster composite were resin transfer molded with an A‐glass continuous strand mat (CSM) and a control with E‐glass CSM. The influence of fiber volume fraction on the physical and thermo‐mechanical properties of the resultant composites were investigated, both before and after environmental exposure. At the maximum fiber fraction considered (nominally 29 vol%), the use of A‐glass reinforcement lowered the warp direction tensile modulus from 8.6 to 7.6 GPa and strength from 139 to 100 MPa, relative to the control. Similar results were observed for both the flexural and the tensile properties, irrespective of fiber fraction and test direction (warp vs. weft), for the A‐glass reinforcement. Environmental exposure was found to affect equally the properties of A‐glass and E‐glass fiber reinforced composites. Based upon microscopic analyses and constituent properties, the lower mechanical properties of the A‐glass fibers composites have been linked to the lower properties of A‐glass fibers relative to E‐glass fibers. The experimental results were also used to test a micro‐mechanics models for random fiber reinforced composites. Reasonable correlation was found between the experimental results and the theoretical predictions. To offset their lower mechanical properties, A‐glass fibers could be used as a reinforcement in composite applications by simply increasing the fiber fraction relative to their E‐glass counterpart.