Strength And Durability Of Glass Fibre Composites Treated With Multicomponent Sizing Formulation Weapons And Materials Research Directorate, Arl Matthew J. Quesenberry University Of Delaware Anmoved For

Commercial fiber-sizing packages have been developed to enhance the strength and moisture resistance of composite materials, which typically decreases ballistic performance. Potential sizing packages developed for Future Combat Systems will need to enhance ballistic response while maintaining the levels of durability currently benchmarked by existing commercial systems. For this research, pultruded vinyl ester/E-glass composites were manufactured in which the silane, film former resin, and surfactant reactivity were varied to mimic the complete spectrum of commercially available fiber-sizing packages. The interlaminar shear strengths of dry and moisture-saturated composites were then measured via 3-point bend testing. These strength and durability results will be used as the standards of comparison for future development of ballistic sizing packages for composite armor applications.