Impact of Manufacturing Methods on the Mechanical Characteristics of Polymer Matrix Composites with Glass and Epoxy Fiber Reinforcement

Mechanical evaluation revealed significant variations between polymer composite specimens made by hand lay-up and resin transfer molding (RTM). This study aimed to evaluate the impact of manufacturing processes on important mechanical characteristics using E-glass/epoxy fiber-reinforced polymer matrix composites. When comparing RTM specimens to hand-lay-up specimens, a comparative analysis showed that the mechanical properties of the former had significantly improved. More precisely, RTM specimens demonstrated an amazing 28.51% improvement in tensile strength when compared to hand lay-up specimens. Likewise, RTM manufacturing resulted in a noteworthy 12.54% increase in flexural strength and a noteworthy 49.25% improvement in compressive strength over hand lay-up competitors. Additionally, impact strength tests showed that RTM specimens performed significantly better than hand lay-up specimens by 25.75%.