Structural performance of vinyl ester resin compression molded high strength composites

Abstract During the past few years the automotive industry has shown increasing interest in evaluating reinforced plastic composites (R/PC) for structural parts. The selection of R/PC systems is limited by economics and performance criteria; such as the ability to withstand temperature extremes, fatigue or other specific criteria depending upon the part. High Strength Molding Compound (HSMC) appears to be a promising R/PC technology. These performance requirements have lead to the development of HSMC based on vinyl ester or polyester resins for compression molding of automotive structural parts. This paper discusses static and dynamic physical properties as they relate to formulation and environmental variables for compression molded vinyl ester resin high strength composites. Static property data on tensile and flexural strength and modulus; coefficient of thermal expansion and Poisson's ratio for vinyl ester resin systems with 1 in. randomly chopped glass fiber levels from 37 to 72 weight percent at temperatures from −20 to 302°F are presented.