Fabrication and characterization of TiO2 particulate filled glass fiber reinforced polymer composite

A new, hybrid polymer composites were fabricated with random oriented e-glass fiber in unsaturated polyester resin matrix. Titanium oxide (TiO₂) was used as reinforcement material and kept 10 wt.% constant. The fiber content was varied as 20 wt.%, 25 wt.%, 30 wt.%, 35 wt.%, and 40 wt.%. Unsaturated polyester resin was used as bonding agent. The composites were prepared with two different fiber lengths of 3 cm and 5 cm by hand layup method. Experiments were conducted to determine tensile strength, impact strength, hardness and chemical resistance. The results showed that the combined reinforcement effect yield the better mechanical properties with increased fiber length and particulate material. The chemical resistance of the composites was analyzed by weight loss method. It was found that the chemical resistance was more pronounced in 5 cm fiber length composites. The SEM image observation of the cross section has found the pull effect to cause the defect of the fiber in the polyester resin matrix.