Effect of reinforcing materials on mechanical properties of composite material using Taguchi method

The mechanical properties play an important role in the selection of suitable material in the manufacturing of boats. In this paper, the effect of glass fiber orientations and the fillers weight fraction on the mechanical properties of un saturated polyester composite material were studied. The glass fibers were used with (0/0, 0/90, 45/45) angles. The carbon filler used with (2.5%, 5%, 7.5%), while the aluminium oxide nano be used with (0%, 1%, 3%) weight fraction respectively. The standard Taguchi's array L9 (3³) was used. The signal to noise ratio and analysis of variance were introduced to analyze and estimate the optimal combination parameters. The results show that the mechanical properties improved with using the reinforcements. The glass fibers orientations angle presents the most parameter effect than the other parameters on the modulus of elasticity, tensile strength and impact strength with a contribution of 81.8%, 83.39% and 96.75% respectively. Followed by carbon and aluminium oxide nano. The optimum parameter with their levels for the highest modulus of elasticity was obtained at (0/90 fiber orientation, 5% carbon and 0% nano aluminium oxide). While the highest tensile strength and impact strength present with using (0/0 fiber orientation and 5% carbon). The experimental and expected results are very close, with an error ratio not exceeding 5%. (paper)