Abstract
The static tensile strength tests were performed for glass-mat reinforced plastics by using three types of rectangular specimens. These specimens involved the straight-sided specimens having the integrally molded tabs (named by Type R-I) and the adhesive tabs with the additional FRP laminates (Type R-F) and aluminum plates (Type R-A). The dumbbell specimen (Type D) was also used to compare the tested results. Failures of every types of tested specimens occurred not only in the gage section, but also near the shoulders between the straight-side and the grip of a specimen. Most of Type R-I specimens failed in the gage section, but about half of the dumbbell specimens failed near the shoulders. As a result of statistical analysis, it was found that the tensile strength distributions were fit to the Weibull distributions with two or three parameters corresponding to the failed location such as the gage-section or the shoulder of each specimen. The dispersions of the tensile strength were maximum for Type-D specimen and minimum for Type R-I specimen.
