Manufacturing and Testing of Composite Rod for Replacement of Mild Steel for Construction Purpose

Composite rods of glass fiber/epoxy with 70% of fiber and 30% of matrix are manufactured using the Pultrusion process as an alternative to steel for construction process. Pultrusion is a highly automated production process that continuously draws resin impregnated fiber reinforcements, at speeds ranging from 1 to 5 feet per minute, through a heated die which forms and cures to the desired cross-section with no part length limitation. The main aim is to manufacture a composite rod and conduct experimental tests on both composite rod and mild steel rod to compare and for replacement of mild steel in construction process. The rods are subjected to tensile test, at room temperature and results are compared. From the results, we can conclude that composite rod can effectively replace mild steel in construction purpose