Effect of Temperature Exposure on the Flexural Mechanical Behavior of Two Pultruded Composites

The use of non-metallic composites at floor gratings in offshore platforms is driven by the need for increased component life in corrosive environments. As a result, these floor gratings contribute to a lower demand for maintenance and greater operational continuity. However, these composite materials have limitations when are exposed to high temperatures. The application of these floor gratings, on ships and floating offshore platforms have the requirement to retain a significant level of mechanical integrity during and after exposure to a fire. In this work, the mechanical behavior of two composites materials after being subject to a temperature rise was evaluated. One composite has an isophthalic polyester resin as matrix and the other used a phenolic resin. Before the mechanical characterization, thermogravimetric analysis was performed to determine the temperatures of beginning of the thermal degradation, and the microstructure of the composites was evaluated by digital image analysis. From the results of the thermal analysis a temperature of 250°C was chosen as the maximum one to be used, in order to evaluate the behavior of these composites in regions close to fire but not directly exposed to fire. Flexural properties of the two composites were performed by three-point bending test with 25 specimens of each composite. For the phenolic resin composite, the test specimens were manufactured with the average dimensions of 90.5 mm long, 19.5 mm large and 4.2 mm thick. The average dimensions of isophthalic composite specimens were 135.0 mm long, 25.0 mm large and 6.9 mm thick. The results show that the isophthalic resin matrix composite lost its mechanical integrity with the time of exposure to temperature, while the phenolic matrix composite maintained their properties. For example, regarding the maximum flexural stress a decrease of almost 50% was measured for the isophthalic matrix composite in comparison to only 3% for the phenolic matrix composite. However, the mechanical behavior of this composite was impaired by the presence of a high content of voids (5.7%) and of touching fibers arising from the manufacturing process.