Comparative study of mechanical behavior of silicon carbide filled and boron carbide filled glass fiber reinforced vinyl ester composites

This paper discusses the study of mechanical properties of glass fibre-vinyl ester composites and the effect of fillers namely Silicon Carbide and Boron carbide. Mechanical properties including tensile strength, tensile modulus and elongation at break, flexural strength, impact strength and surface hardness are investigated in accordance with ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) standards. Reinforced plastics were fabricated with vinyl ester resin as matrix system and woven glass fabric as reinforcement with boron carbide particulate fillers. Each fabrication carries the filler content varied from 3% -9% with incremental steps of 3%. Mechanical tests were carried out on specimens from each laminate, comparison between boron carbide and silicon carbide filled composite was done and it is observed that boron carbide filler enhances the mechanical properties of glass fiber reinforced vinyl ester composites.