Abstract
The behaviors of glass fiber reinforced plastics (GRP) under compressive load were investigated by using unsaturated polyester resins reinforced with roving cloths or chopped strand mat. The influence of fiber content on the behaviors was also investigated. The results obtained were as follows.
(1) There was no microcrack in the specimens under low compressive stress, while many microcracks appeared under low tensile stress.
(2) The elastic modulus in compression increased in proportion to the volumetric content of glass fiber β. However, this effect was not large in M-GRP (reinforced by chopped strand mat).
(3) R-GRP (reinforced by roving cloths) showed complicated strain behavior due to their cloth structure, but M-GRP showed semi-homogeneitic behavior.
(4) The compressive strength of M-GRP was better than that of R-GRP at the same glass content.
(5) The limit value of β at which the compressive strength did not increase proportionally with β any more was lower than that for the tensile strength.
