A novel fiberglass-reinforced polyurethane elastomer as the core sandwich material of the ship–plate system

Abstract A novel low-cost polyurethane (PU) elastomeric material reinforced with mat-form fiberglass for alternative ship material was developed. The hand lay-up technique was used to prepare samples with glass fiber contents of 0, 7, 9, 11, and 15% by weight. Several tests, including density, tensile, and hardness tests, have been conducted to investigate the effect of fiber content on the material properties of the developed materials. The test results found that only composites with 0% (PU) and 7% (PFg-7) fiberglass had met all Lloyd’s Register criteria. PFg-7 has a density of 1,098 kg/m3, a hardness of 66.15 shore-D, a tensile strength of 21.32 MPa, and an elongation at break of 47.06%, a higher hardness, elastic modulus, and yield strength than PU. PFg-15 achieved the highest density, hardness, tensile strength, elastic modulus, and yield strength, which were 1,228 kg/m3, 68.85 shore-D, 32.13, 2,176, and 30.89 MPa, respectively. The elastic modulus and yield strength of PFg-15 were 5.6 times and 3 times higher than those of PU but PFg-15 did not meet the elongation at break criteria. PFg-9, PFg-11, and PFg-15 showed brittle properties, as indicated by relatively high hardness, elastic modulus, and yield strength compared to the results from various references.