Paper Title
The Effect of Fabrication Processes And Material Combinations on The Mechanical Properties of Fibre Reinforced Polymer Composites

Abstract
In this paper, the mechanical properties of carbon- and glass-fibre-reinforced polymer matrix composites were investigated by altering the fabrication processes. The polymer type is also investigated to understand its effect on mechanical behaviour. The processes used for composite fabrication utilised in this study were hand lay-up, vacuum bag moulding and vacuum assisted resin infusion. The resin systems used included a polyester, a vinyl ester and an epoxy. The mechanical properties of the resulting composites were evaluated using the tensile test. Results show that the fibre-reinforced polymer matrix composites used in the present study are significantly affected by the fibre type. The effect of the matrix type on the mechanical properties is of secondary and the fabrication process is of third importance compared with the effect of the fibre material. Overall, it was concluded that optimum mechanical properties were achieved using vacuum assisted resin infusion method at carbon reinforced polyester and epoxy based composites. Keywords- Composites; polymer; fabrication; mechanical properties.