ABSTRACT

Many different materials have been used to form composites within the field of reinforced plastics. The concept is to combine a strong tensile fibrous material, to give tensile strength, with a resinous binder to hold the material together and provide compressive strength. Thus GRP is a composite of durable resin with glass-fibre reinforcement. Its principal characteristics are as follows:

– It has a high strength and low density, leading to lightweight products. Despite its high tensile strength, however, it has a low modulus of elasticity, and therefore high loads can be sustained only at the expense of large deflections.