Materials Today: Proceedings 25 (2020) 946–951

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Materials Today: Proceedings

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Experimental analysis of different GSM of glass fibre using dynamic

mechanical analysis
Ishant Khurana a, Chandra Pratap a, Shubhender Singh a, Ankit Bansal b, Ravi Butola a,⇑
a
Department of Mechanical, Production & Industrial and Automobile Engineering, Delhi Technological University, Delhi 11042, India
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Netaji Subhas University of Technology, Delhi, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The aim of the study is to investigate the dynamic mechanical properties of different samples viz.
Received 10 April 2019 200,250,300,600 GSM (Gram per Square Metre) of glass fibres through Dynamic Mechanical Analysis
Received in revised form 14 April 2020 (DMA). DMA is a technique that is widely used to characterize a material’s properties as the variation
Accepted 17 April 2020
of dynamic properties (Storage modulus, Loss modulus and tan d) with respect to time and temperature.
Available online 4 May 2020
The increase in GSM of the samples leads to increase in glass transition temperature (Tg). The analysis
shows that the orientation of the fibre played a crucial role in determination of storage modulus. It
Keywords:
was found that the storage modulus for 45° orientation was more than that for 0° orientation and further
Dynamic Mechanical Analysis
Glass Transition Temperature
concluded that the glass transition temperature influenced the static displacement.
Glass Fibre Reinforced polymer Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Loss Modulus Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 2nd International Con-
Storage Modulus ference on Computational and Experimental Methods in Mechanical Engineering.

1. Introduction can be arranged in the increasing order as follows

To determine best suited fiber concentration in reinforced com-
posite is still a challenge for a fabricator. Glass fibers reinforced
composites amalgamates the properties of parent materials which
are epoxy resins and strands of glass fibers, due to this character-
istic feature they incorporate many applications in day to day life.
The dynamic properties (viscoelastic) of glass fibers determine
their area of application. Dynamic mechanical analysis evaluates
properties like glass transition temperature, storage modulus, loss
modulus and tand. Various Dynamic properties are plotted on
graphs and their variation with time and temperature are noted.
Hence, it is important to analyze the results of dynamic properties
of glass fibers with the help of DMA machine which occurs below
the melting point of the material. Properties like viscosity, coeffi-
cient of thermal expansion, shear modulus and many other proper-
ties show a relatively sudden change at the glass transition
temperature and any of these sudden changes could be used to
define the tg. Techniques like the Differential Scanning Calorimetry
(DSC), Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) and Thermo mechan-
ical Analysis are generally used to determine the glass transition
temperature. The Tg value measured by each of these techniques
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ravibutola33855@gmail.com (R. Butola).
TSDC < DSC < DMA.
GFRP composites have been processed by various manufactur-
ing technique and are widely used for different applications. While
composites are also prepared by following other routes such as stir
casting for aluminum or other hybrid metal matrix composite
(HMMC) preparation techniques [1]. While metal matrix compos-
ites show different properties than polymer composites, some
HMMC are also prepared using polymer and natural reinforce-
ments [2,3]. Glass fibers exhibit extraordinary characteristics like
high strength, flexibility, stiffness and resistance to chemical harm
and therefore used in electronics, aviation and automobile applica-
tion etc, [4].The thorough analysis of research papers shows the
extensive area of application of DMA. In the paper on glass fiber/
polymer composites by Konstantinos et al. [5] a comparative
DMA study between glass fiber and carbon fiber is shown. The var-
ious test samples used were GFRPs of unidirectional fiber in longi-
tudinal direction and transverse direction and woven fabric. The
results showed a decrease in storage modulus as the temperature
decreases. Glass temperature could be easily identified from the
readings as a sharp decrease in storage modulus was seen. Glass
transition temperature was calculated by loss modulus peak
method and tand peak method with the latter values being higher.
The fibers used in longitudinal direction were found to be more
effective than transverse direction. Mukesh et al. [6] studied the

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.04.332
2214-7853/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 2nd International Conference on Computational and Experimental Methods in Mechanical
Engineering.
 I. Khurana et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 25 (2020) 946–951 947

changes in the GFRP when exposed to different types of chemical
resistance test and toughness test. The results showed the highest
impact strength was found in unidirectional GFRP and was the
least for orthogonal GFRP.
In the research study on epoxy by Jianhui Hu et al. [7] DMA test-
ing of new epoxy shape polymer was carried out. Both static and
dynamic analysis was done. The results showed a nonlinear stress
strain curve. The glass transition temperature was acquired. A very
low glass transition temperature implied that simple room electric
heaters could enable the polymer to show glass transition behav-
ior. Another research on elastic modulus from DMA data by Xianbo
Xu et al. [8] an adaptive surrogate model was used. All design prob-
lems require the application of simulation. So in these cases surro-
gate models are developed which are approximate models to
determine the outcome of an experiment. The final results were
compared with the DMA results obtained and the surrogate model
was deemed to be useful. In the paper on railpads properties via
dynamic mechanical analysis by Oregui [9], dynamic mechanical
analysis of railpad was done. They were tested for different fre-
quencies. Actual conditions were tried to be generated in labora-
tory like preload. New and worn out samples were tested and
the results showed that after 10 years of service the damping
was reduced and the railpad could be termed as soft. In the paper
on dynamic mechanical analysis of Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene by
Jianhui Hu et al. [10], ETFE foils were analyzed for dynamic loading
conditions. This gave an idea of the modern structural application
for the present research work. ETFE foils are used in many famous
structures like the Allianz arena in Germany. The DMA properties
of ETFE foils are related to the variables like material thickness
and specimen direction. Hence DMA properties are related to
directions. This gave an idea of conducting directional DMA analy-
sis on glass fiber material. In another research by Mittal et al. [11],
DMA analysis was carried out to determine the effects of coir and
pineapple leaf additives on the Dynamic characteristics of the fiber
reinforced composites. It was found that thermal stability, storage
modulus, loss modulus and glass transition temperature of the
epoxy based polymer increases with the introducing of coir and
pineapple leaf fiber (pineapple leaf has higher stability than coir
fiber) which motivated to work on variation of dynamic properties
with GSM of the fiber in this study [8].
2. Experimentation
glass fibre that is at 0° and also at 45° to the direction of threads
of glass fiber. The prepared composite specimens are shown in
Fig. 1. The GSM concentrations used were 200, 250, 300, and 600
[16–18].
2.2. Dynamic mechanical analyser
The specimens for DMA were rectangular in shape with dimen-
sions of 30 mm by 10 mm wide and having a thickness of 2.5 mm.
Dynamic mechanical analysis was carried out with a DMA 8000
setup shown in Fig. 2, in the dual cantilever bending deformation
mode and single-frequency-strain modes. The parameters and
conditions for DMA are as abridged in Table 1. The heating rate
of 2 °C/min was used to eschew effect of fast temperature rise on
empirical outcomes [19]. The frequency value was set at 1 Hz so
that modulus value can be recorded each second. To carry out anal-
ysis using DMA, the conduct of experiment was divided into the
following steps, i.e., clamp the specimen, bring to the initial spec-
ified temperature, increase temperature and record data.
3. Results and discussion
In Dynamic mechanical analysis, viscoelastic properties of the
material are investigated. A sinusoidal stress was applied to the
specimen and the strain (displacement) produced was noted
[20]. For viscoelastic materials (which are under experimenta-
tion), the applied stress and the strain hence produced are neither
in nor out of phase but on the contrary has a phase angle which is
between 0° and 90°. For perfectly elastic materials the phase
angle is 0° and for perfectly viscous fluid it is 90° [21]. The results
of the dynamic analysis are presented in a detailed manner along
with graphs. The variation of dynamic properties like storage
modulus, damping coefficient are plotted with temperature as
shown in Fig. 3. The figure expresses the variation of these prop-
erties for different GSM specifically 200, 250, 300 and 600 num-
bered (a) to (d) [22]. The peaks of the damping coefficient
(Tand) vs temperature curves represent the glass transition tem-
peratures while the variation of modulus with temperature is also
plotted simultaneously. There is notable drop in the storage mod-
ulus amid the temperatures 40 °C and 60 °C. Rising the tempera-
ture beyond the glass transition temperature Tg leads to the
transformation in state of composite specimens from solid to

2.1. Materials and method

Woven glass fiber sheets of four different GSM were purchased

and prepared for the experimental procedure. To remove them
from the mold release agent had to be used, which is generally
available as wax [12]. For application of the mixture to the surface
resin or epoxy after being mixed with a hardener was used. The
next step involved laying of fiber glass matt into the mould while
adding more of the above prepared resin mixture utilizing rolling
or brushing method. The trapping of air within the fibre glass mold
must be prevented, for this it must be made sure that the former
must accommodate to mold properly. Use of vacuum rollers or
applying pressure through hands is therefore suggested for com-
plete saturation of resin and wetting of layers of the fibre sheets.
Care had to be taken to prevent air pockets and for their removal
during the process [13]. Also there are equal chances of resin cur-
ing up therefore the work had to be done swiftly, or high temper-
ature resins must be used which do not cure until warmed in an
oven [14,15]. After curing in air for 24 h, hardened sheets of differ-
ent GSM glass fiber were obtained. Samples of Glass fiber rein-
forced polymer were made of 30  10 mm dimension using a
grinder. The samples where cut along the direction of threads of Fig. 1. Prepared composite specimen.
948 I. Khurana et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 25 (2020) 946–951

Fig. 2. DMA 8000 (dynamic mechanical analyser).

Fig. 3 (continued)

Table 1
Experimental conditions for DMA.

Parameters Conditions
Deformation mode Dual Cantilever bending mode
Temperature Range 25 °C–100 °C
Heating Range 2 °C/min
Frequency 1 Hz
Displacement 0.050 mm

rubbery [23]. The rubbery region is responsible for the reduction

in strength as the storage modulus for all specimens become very
low. In the solid region the modulus values is the least for 200
GSM and the highest for 300 GSM specimens respectively, with
intermediate values for the other two specimens. This can be jus-
tified by the fact that the specimen prepared at 300 GSM has the
highest modulus of elasticity. Another observation in the results
is the increase in the value of Tand with increasing GSM from
200 to 300 and a fall in the same for 600 GSM specimen. With
increasing GSM there is increase in weight leading to such results
but introduction of more fiber content beyond 300 GSM decreases
the peak value [24]. Fig. 3 (continued)

Fig. 3. Dynamic properties variation with temperature of sample specification. Fig. 3 (continued)
 I. Khurana et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 25 (2020) 946–951 949

Table 2
Variation of Tg with GSM.

GSM Tg (°C)
200 68.90
250 70.80
300 74.60
600 78.20

3.1. Variation of glass transition temperature with GSM

For 200 GSM Glass transition temperature occurs at 68.9 °C as

seen from the tan d peak, while for increasing GSM the transition
temperature increases as tabulated in Table 2.
As concluded from the graphs in Fig. 3, the glass transition tem-
perature is evidently seen to increase with the increase in concen-
tration of GSM. Thus, as GSM of glass fibre increases the gradual
Fig. 4 (continued)
and reversible transition from a hard and brittle material into a
‘‘glassy” brittle material occur at a comparatively higher tempera-
ture [25]. Therefore, before selecting a glass fibre, its range of appli-
cation of temperature should be known, as if the temperature
range is too large a higher GSM of glass fibre should be considered.
Glass fibres are generally used below their glass transition temper-
ature. At elevated temperature conditions, the stiffness of the poly-
mer matrix composites are reduced significantly and for that glass
temperature is estimated. The main cause of loss of stiffness is
increase in the mobility of the matrix at elevated temperatures.
Therefore, not only the molecular weight of the polymer determi-
nes Tg but the GSM of the same polymer also plays a significant
role.

3.2. Variation of static deformation with temperature

The graphs in Fig. 4(a) to (d) represent the variation of modulus

and tand with time. From the graphs in Fig. 4, it is clear that storage
modulus decreases with time at a high rate up to glass transition
temperature (GTT) and after that its rate fall whereas tand
increases with time up to GTT and after that it falls due to change
in properties of viscoelastic before and after Tg [26]. The loss mod-
Fig. 4 (continued)
ulus is a measure of energy depletion, though as a modulus it is
hardness or stiffness of a material. Upon heating both storage
and loss modulus decreases because less force is required for
deformation. In the domain of the glass transformation molecular

Fig. 4. Showing the variation of E’ and tand with increasing time for (a) 200gsm (b)
250gsm (c) 300gsm (d) 600gsm and 0° woven glass fibre. Fig. 4 (continued)
950 I. Khurana et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 25 (2020) 946–951

segmental motions are stimulated, however motions takes place

with associated problems, reported as molecular friction that
depletes much of the force. Therefore even though the material
seems to lack stiffness, large amount of force is depleted as heat,
increasing the loss modulus. Fewer packets of power is reserved
as the molecules can move with the force resulting in a sudden fall
in storage modulus.

3.3. Comparing storage modulus for 0° vs 45° oriented glass fiber

From the graphs in Fig. 5 where the storage modulus has been
compared between 0° and 45° specimens of different GSM it is evi-
dent that the storage modulus for 45° (Fig. 5ii)) oriented glass fibre
is more than its 0° (Fig. 5i)) counterpart. Thus, the 45° oriented
glass fiber threads have high ability to store the deformation
energy in an elastic manner, which is directly related to the extent
of cross linking.

4. Conclusion

This work concerned with the dynamic mechanical analysis was

able to conclude that the glass transition temperature greatly influ-
ences the dynamic properties of the concerned material which is
under test. On contrary to the samples of longitudinal or transverse
woven glass fiber reinforced polymer, their counterparts of 45°
woven glass fiber reinforced polymers were found to have a higher
value of storage and loss modulus. Glass transition temperature
increases with increase in the GSM of the samples from 200 GSM
to 600 GSM. After glass transition temperature is reached storage
modulus is almost constant for both time and temperature plots.
Since, glass fiber products have got applications in all the fields
including aerospace, medical science, etc. where even small varia- Fig. 5 (continued)
tion in the desired properties can lead to major consequences

Fig. 5. Comparison of storage modulus at i) 0° v/s at ii) 45° for 200gsm (b) 250gsm
(c) 300gsm. Fig. 5 (continued)
 I. Khurana et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings 25 (2020) 946–951
hence their properties had to be thoroughly studied before and
after glass transition temperature. Moreover, they being viscoelas-
tic materials the study of dynamic properties of glass fibers is also
very important. DMA testing is approximately 100 times quicker to
detect slight changes to the glass transition temperature than
other known popular techniques. The results verify that DMA is
the best technique for measuring glass transition temperature. This
DMA technique is in its early age and this technique can further be
exploited to various other materials.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Ishant Khurana: Software, Methodology. Chandra Pratap:
Conceptualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & edit-
ing. Shubhender Singh: Data curation, Resources. Ankit Bansal:
Validation, Formal analysis. Ravi Butola: Project administration,
Investigation, Supervision.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
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