Abstract
A 50:50 weight % mixture of commingled GF/PP fiber system was selected to study the relationships between the morphological details, mechanical properties (interlaminar fracture behavior, transverse flexure failure and impact fracture toughness) and corresponding failure mechanisms. Results as a function of matrix morphologies are presented. This study clearly indicates that (a) rapid cooling conditions resulted in lower degree of crystallinity, smaller spherulite diameters and higher values of flexure strength and interlaminar fracture toughness, but in lower values of elastic modulus; (b) slow cooling caused void formation, larger spherulites between the glass fibers and lower values of fracture toughness and strength associated with the tendency to inter-spherulitic fracture events. The present results will give important ideas to the user about how to control the manufacturing process in order to avoid defects in the microstructure and to obtain optimum structure-property relationships.