Effect of seawater on mechanical properties of GFRP with cement as filler material for fishing boat application

Usually fishing boats are constructed using metal or wooden slabs, which are more susceptible for the damages from the water, so as to protect these structures from the adverse effect of water the GFRPs are used as the coating material to the areas of boat which comes in contact with water. To enhance the properties of GFRP, in this work, cement was used as filler material with glass fiber-polyester resin matrix. The composites were fabricated by varying the weight percentage of cement in matrix material. The composites were fabricated by hand-layup process, following with compression molding. As per ASTM standards, the specimen were prepared and studied experimentally for mechanical properties. Further the specimens have been kept in seawater for known time period to characterize the effect of sea water on the properties of composite. The results were compared for different percentage of filler material. It was observed that addition of cement lead to increase in mechanical properties of GFRP.