Mechanical properties and fatigue life detection of copper particle filled polyester composite material under rotating bending load

Abstract

In the present investigation, the fatigue life detection of composite material by adding copper particle of about than 25 μm diameter with 5, 10, 15 % volume fraction, as a reinforcements into the unsaturated polyester polymer composite material on fatigue life detection of composite material were studied experimentally and numerically. Composites were made using hand lay-up technique and evaluated for mechanical and fatigue properties in accordance with ASTM standards. The experimental results of the tensile test showed that adding 15% of copper particle in unsaturated polyester gives maximum ultimate tensile stress. Fatigue tests including test rod specimens made of composite materials under completely reversed cyclic loading in a rotating cantilever reversed bending machine. It is found that, the fatigue life and fatigue strength increase with increasing in the copper percentage volume fraction in unsaturated polyester resin compared with pure polyester composites. The experimental work was compared with numerical work, which was done by using ANSYS/19 and good agreement has been found. The maximum overall difference between the experimental and numerical work was around 9 %.