The microstructures, water absorption as well as blistering was studied for bi- and tri- axial glass fibre vinyl ester and polyester -matrix laminates coated with gel coat layer and uncoated. The effect of manufacturing technique on water sorption characteristics was considered. It was found that water sorption characteristics of GFRP depend on manufacturing methods. The least water intake was found for specimens having perfect...

Macro and microstructural damage was studied in typical glass fibre-reinforced polymer laminates with two types of coating systems – (a) isophtalic gel coat: pure or mixed with SiO2 nanoparticles 5 wt% (5%N) or 10 wt% (10%N) and (b) a two-layer coating system: urethane-modified vinyl ester-based gel coat and additional polyester barrier coat layer. Accelerated tests were performed at 50C for 50 days for specimens with nanoparticle-modified...

Glass/polyester laminate coated with gelcoat layer of different thickness 0,5; 1,5; 3 mm was studied in terms of blistering behaviour and water sorption in hot water environment. Blistering was found to be accelerated for thin (0,5 mm) gel-coat layer compared to the thick (1,5; 3 mm), however no significant difference in blistering behaviour was observed between the laminates with gel-coat thickness 1,5 and 3 mm which may suggest...

Water absorption and surface blistering behaviour was studied for polyester-matrix laminates with SiO2 nanoparticle reinforced gel coats. Accelerated water immersion tests at 37°C showed that addition of 10% nanoparticles increases blisters incubation time by ca. 50% compared to 5% and 0% nanoparticles composites.