Effects of industrial scale production on the chemical composition of novel coupling agents and its relationship to the mechanical properties of chopped glass fibre mat reinforced thermoset composites

Previously successfully applied polyalkenyl-poly(maleic-anhydride)-ester/amide type additives synthesized in laboratory scale have gone through selection steps then the selected coupling additives were produced in industrial scale process. Additives have been applied for treating the surfaces of glass fibres with and then mechanical properties of the laminated polyester and vinyl-ester based composites have been determined. Results have been focussed on the effect of the size increasing of additive production on the final properties of the laminates. The structures of the additives have been compared based on their FT-IR spectra. Improvement of mechanical properties of composites treated by coupling additives has been found manufactured in industrial scale either. Tensile properties could be improved by 3.2-51.3% with additives from industrial scale related to the same properties of untreated laminates. The Charpy impact strength of laminates treated with coupling agents from industrial scale was higher than that of from lab scale. Fibre-matrix interaction has been studied on SEM micrographs of the fractured faces of the composites. Similarly, the unfavourable results had been caused by the fibres slipping out of the ester matrix. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.