Result and Discussion

In our experiment, three plain weave specimens have cut out to conduct the tensile test. The
thickness and width of the specimens are measured in three times and their average value are
calculated and tabulated in Table 1. As only three specimens required for analysis, we exclude
specimen 1 from our discussion.
Specimen
2
3
Gauge length (mm)
130
130
Width (mm)
26.28
24.85
Thickness (mm)
1.963
1.975
Ultimate Tensile Strength (GPa)
182.434
179.287
Young's Modulus Crosshead (GPa)
6.857
7.031
Young's Modulus Extensometer(GPa)
10.447
10.404
Table 1: Result of all three specimens

4
130
26.24
1.925
179.758
7.218
10.687

Average
130
25.79
1.954
180.493
7.035
10.513

From table 1, we can conclude that all three plain weave specimens have nearly the same value of
ultimate tensile strength, Young's Modulus from crosshead and Young's Modulus from
extensometer. The average values for all three parameters are calculated with the ultimate tensile
strength of 180.493 GPa, Young's Modulus from crosshead of 7.035 Gpa and Young's Modulus from
extensometer of 10.513 GPa.
The theoretical Axial mdulus of E-glass Plain weave obtained from website in longitudinal direction is
19.3Gpa while in transverse modulus is 2.8Gpa. The theoretical value of Youngs modulus of our
calculated from equation 1 is 11.05Gpa.

(1)
Where,

Based on Table 1, the average Young's Modulus from extensometer and average Young's Modulus
from crosshead are 10.513 and 7.035 respectively. Crosshead movement is measured using a highresolution encoder, however when a specimen is installed and is applied to tensile load, the
accuracy of measurement of crosshead movement become dependent upon compliance.
Compliance may refer to the tendency of the specimen deflected or twisted under load. Compliance
is the inverse of stiffness; the more stiff, the less compliant. As our plain weave has the tendency to
deflect due to its relatively low stiffness, the Young's modulus obtained from crosshead is less
accurate. Hence we can conclude that measurement by using extensometer result in higher accuracy
because it only measures the region where the specimen fail or defect. The percentage of difference
from our experimental and theoretical calculation is 5.1 % which is approximately near to each
others.

Stress vs Strain from crosshead

250

200

Stress (MPa)

150
Specimen 2
100

Specimen 3
Specimen 4

50

0
0
-50

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

0.06

Stress from crosshead

Figurexx

Based on Figure xx, we can see that all three plain weave specimen exhibit same mechanical
properties where their ultimate tensile strength near to 180 GPa, which mean all the three
specimens undergo failure at approximately same maximum stress. The non-linearity at the
beginning of the curves are basically attributed to the deformation of the matrix resin that is ductile.
Under tensile loading, fibers tend to straighten, causing stress within matrix system. On the other
hand, the linear slopes reflect deformation of glass fiber, hence plastic deformation is not occurred.
Most glass fibers are brittle and the strength of the brittle fibers are controlled by the presence of
flaws. Hence we can see that specimen 4 undergoes failure first as compared to specimen 2 and 3
due to the presence of voids and non-uniform fiber dispersions as shown in Appendix xx. Besides,
we can also see that specimen 3 exhibits non-linearity curve prior to failure due to the ductile matrix
influences. The non-linearity prior to failure in specimen 3 can be seen clearly in Appendix

Stress vs Strain from Extensometer

250

200

Stress (MPa)

150
Specimen 2
100

Specimen 3
Specimen 4

50

0
-0.1

-0.08

-0.06

-0.04

-0.02

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

-50
Axis Title

Based on Figurevv, we can conclude that all three specimens have same ultimate tensile strength
like as stated in Figure xx . All three curve from the graph of stress versus strain from extensometer
superimpose with each other indicate that all three specimens undergo approximately same strain
and stress before failure. However, there is some jagged and non-linear region in specimen 4 before
failure occurred due to many voids present in specimen 4 as compared to specimen 2 and 3. Besides,
there are some resin-rich regions in specimen 4 which cause it more ductile which may cause nonlinearity in the curve. In addition, misaligned fibers and wavy fibers may also contributed to the in
incoincident of the result. The reason where final stain value of specimen 2 and specimen 3 shift to
negative region of the graph is due to the error measurement in extensometer.

Type of
Ultimate Tensile Strength
Young's Modulus of
Young's Modulus of
composites
(GPa)
Crosshead (GPa)
Extensometer (GPa)
UD
346.145
15.707
21.808
Pre-preg
319.201
13.689
21.217
Plain Weave
179.287
7.031
10.404
CSM
83.867
6.279
7.340
Table 2: Comparison of UTS and Young's Modulus of different types of composites
Based on Table 2, we can conclude that unidirectional pre-preg (UD) has the highest Young's
Modulus and ultimate tensile strength among all four tested composites. Unidirectional pre-preg has
the highest stiffness due to its continuous fiber stronger enough to sustain the applied force in the
load direction. However, the chopped strand mat (CSM) has the lowest Young's Modulus and

ultimate tensile strength because its fiber is discontinuous. Chopped strand mat also mainly
dominated by matrix with short fiber length which make the composite less stiff than others. Besides,
cross-plied pre-preg has relatively higher Young's Modulus and ultimate tensile strength than both
plain weave and chopped strand mat. However, cross-plied pre-preg has lower ultimate strength
and Young's modulus due to lower volume fraction of fiber in load direction as compared to
unidirectional pre-preg. Finally, plain weave show relatively low Young's Modulus and ultimate
tensile strength than pre-preg because of its fiber crimp or waviness. High crimp fiber in plain weave
will reduce the stiffness and strength of the composite.

Stress vs Strain from Crosshead

400
350
300

Strain (mm/mm)

250
CSM

200

Pre-preg
150

Plain Weave
UD

100
50
0
0
-50

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

0.06

Strain (mm/mm)

Based on Figure zz above, both unidirectional pre-preg and cross-plied pre-preg show linear pattern
at the beginning, then at some region show a 'knee' in the curve, then continues its linearity until
failure occurred. This may be due to fiber in the direction of 90 of already failed. For both plain
weave and chopped strand mat, their non linearity at the beginning of the curves are basically due
to the deformation of the ductile matrix resin. Besides, we can see that unidirectional pre-preg
require higher tensile stress to fail, followed by cross-plied pre-preg, plain weave and chopped
strand mat.

Stress vs Strain from Extensometer

400
350
300

Stress (MPa)

250
CSM

200

Pre-preg
150

Plain Weave
UD

100
50
0
-0.2

-0.15

-0.1

-0.05

Strain (mm/mm)

0.05

-50

Based on Figure xx and Table 2 above, we can conclude that unidirectional has the highest Young's
modulus and ultimate tensile strength followed by cross-plied pre-preg, plain weave and finally
chopped strand mat. The reasons are the same as explained in figure zz, however, the Young's
modulus calculated from the measurement from the extensometer is relatively higher than that of
measurement of crosshead. The reason where final stain value of all composite shift to negative
region of the graph is due to the error measurement in extensometer caused by the bounced back of
extensometer when the specimen break.

Appendices
Apendix 1 Pictures of Specimens

Apendix 2 Graph of Specimens

Stress vs Srain Curve for Plain Weave Specimen 2

200

150

stress (Mpa)

100
Stress vs Strain Crosshead
Stress vs Strain Extensometer

50

0
-0.06

-0.04

-0.02

0.02

-50
Strain (mm/mm)

0.04

0.06

Stress vs Srain Curve for Plain Weave Specimen 3

200

150

Stress (Mpa)

100
Stress vs Strain Crosshead
Stress vs Strain Extensometer

50

0
-0.1

-0.05

0.05

0.1

-50
Strain (mm/mm)

Stress vs Srain Curve for Plain Weave Specimen 4

200

Stress (Mpa)

150

100
Stress vs Strain Croshead
Stress vs Strain Extensometer

50

0
0

-50

0.02

0.04

Strain (mm/mm)

0.06

0.08