| Abstrak/Abstract |
Fiber-reinforced polymer composite has been used in automotive, defense, aerospace, marine, and lightweight structural materials, because of their excellent mechanical properties. Glass fibers are widely used as reinforcement in fiber-reinforced polymer composite. In structural applications, Glass fiber reinforced polymer is made by stacking several fiber and matrix layers into the desired thickness. The manufacturing process plays an essential role in obtaining the optimum mechanical properties of glass fiber reinforced polymer. Manufacturing defects cause the mechanical properties of the material to deviate from design specifications. Vacuum-assisted resin infusion is one of the manufacturing processes in fabricating glass fiber reinforced polymer, which can produce high-quality products. In this study, investigations were conducted on the defect characteristics of the product manufactured via vacuum-assisted resin infusion. Unidirectional glass fibers and epoxy resin were used as reinforcement and matrix of the composite. The characteristics of defects in glass fiber reinforced polymer were observed in several different lamination sequences [0], [02], [03], and [04]. These products were characterized by gravimetric and volumetric composition. Micrograph and surface roughness were also conducted to observe the manufacturing defects and the surface characteristics of the product |
