Flexural fatigue behavior of a pultruded basalt fiber reinforced epoxy plate subjected to elevated temperatures exposure

In the present article, effects of elevated temperature treatment on the flexural fatigue behavior of a pultruded basalt fiber reinforced epoxy plates (BFRPs) were investigated. Elevated temperature treatment conditions were set as 150 and 250°C for 0.5, 1, and 2 h in an oven. The static testing results revealed that elevated temperature treatment only brings in slight degradation in the flexural properties of the BFRP. However, the short beam shear strength (SBS) was deteriorated significantly. Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) results indicates that elevated temperature treatment at 150°C mainly shows a post-curing effect on the resin matrix, while elevated temperature treatment at 250°C leads to fiber debonding and decomposition of the resin. The S-N curves of BFRP (untreated and treated 150 and 250°C for 1 h) show that the elevated temperature treatment decreased the fatigue lives of BFRP remarkably, especially under high strain ratio. As indicated, elevated temperature treatment accelerates the growth of the damages due, mainly, to the deteriorated fiber–resin bonding property and increased void content. POLYM. COMPOS., 39:1731–1741, 2018.