Performance of glass-fiber and basalt fiber composite high-pressure pipe specimens

Advanced Composite Materials Engineering Group, University of Alberta, 4-9 Mechanical Engineering Building, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2G8, Canada phone: (780) 492-6982, fax: (780) 492-2200, email:pmertinyualberta.ca, http://www.mece.ualberta.ca/groups/advanced_mat/

Data presented here are preliminary results from a comprehensive study on the performance of different fiber reinforcements.

Basalt and E-glass fiber specimens	Average relative strength of basalt and E-glass fiber samples with respect to the average burst strength of glass fiber samples

Manufacturing conditions:

Tubular specimens with 38.1 mm inside diameter were filament-wound with assembled fiber bands of approximately 6 g/m total linear weight, i.e. 8 glass fiber tows with 735 Tex and 5 basalt fiber tows with 1200 Tex formed a winding band respectively. Fiber architectures of [±60°₃] were produced. Individual fiber tows (from each creel) were tension-controlled at constant 26.7 N. The resin matrix was a bisphenol-A epoxy and a non-MDA polyamine hardener (EPON826 / EPICURE9551) supplied by Hexion Specialty Chemicals, Inc. Fiber volume fractions for the various samples ranged from 67.4% (basalt) to 70.7% (glass).

Testing conditions:

Samples were subjected to internal pressure and axial force producing a ratio of circumferential-to-axial stress in the tube wall of 3-to-1. The leakage threshold was defined as a fluid loss corresponding to 1% of the total fluid volume contained by the sample. The average burst pressure of glass fiber samples was 410 bar.
Additional information on specimen geometries and testing procedures can be found in:
Mertiny, P., Ellyin, F. and Hothan, A. An experimental investigation on the effect of multi-angle filament winding on the strength of tubular composite structures. Composites Science and Technology 64:1-9, 2004.