INVESTIGATION OF EFFECT OF BRINE SOLUTION ON MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF COMPOSITE RESIN JOINTS FOR MARINE AND OFF SHORE APPLICATIONS

Composites materials are very commonly used in several areas under different environmental conditions. Glass fiber reinforced composites are widely used for structural applications. Using these in marine and offshore applications along with various adhesively bonded joints where sea water comes into contact with it, has taken a major role in present research scenario. Here an effort is made to investigate the influence of saline water environment on single lap joints of glass fiber reinforced composites using various adhesives bounding. Using unidirectional glass fiber as reinforcement and epoxy & polyester as matrix (bounding material) laminates were fabricated by hand layup process. From these laminates and adhesives single lap joints were prepared according to standards and treated in sea water for different time periods. Moisture absorption and tensile strength of these specimens were studied for different adhesives and varying the overlap length of the joints. From study it reveals that moisture abortion gives raise to degradation of adhesive joints till certain moisture saturation level. Results show that as overlap length increases tensile strength increases for single lap adhesive joints but as time period of exposure increases, tensile strength decreases. When compared for Epoxy and Polyester adhesives, epoxy with increase in overlap length joints gives the better tensile properties.