Glass-GFRP laminate: A proof of concept experimental investigation

This paper presents a proof of concept experimental validation of a novel Glass-Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) laminate. The Glass-GFRP laminate specimens were fabricated by combining two thin annealed glass sheets (i.e. top and bottom skins of the laminate) with a dry, porous three-dimensional (3D) GFRP core. Vacuum Infusion Process (VIP) was used to impregnate the dry 3D GFRP core as well as to connect the glass sheets and the GFRP core using a clear, acrylic resin in a single-step fabrication step. The paper shows that choosing right materials and fabrication parameters, VIP -based methods can be used to fabricate Glass-GFRP laminates. Although Glass-GFRP laminate shows less light transmittance at -60-70% compared to annealed and PVB-based laminated glass at -90-100%, the new laminate still ensured notable light transmittance capability. Bending test results showed the Glass-GFRP laminate ensured higher load capacity (-1000% and -210% increase compared to annealed monolithic and PVB-based annealed laminated glass, respectively), and higher flexural stiffness (-10 times and -4 times high compared to annealed monolithic and PVB-based annealed laminated glass, respectively). More importantly, compared to the reference glasses, the glass-GFRP laminate demonstrated significant load resistance in the post -cracked regime of the glass sheets and unlike the reference glasses, Glass- GFRP laminates did not fail in brittle manners.