Correlation of fatigue behavior and dynamic mechanical properties of hybrid composites of polypropylene/short glass fibers/hollow glass beads

Ternary hybrid composites of Polypropylene (PP)/Short Glass Fibers (GF)/Hollow Glass Beads (HGB) were prepared using untreated and aminosilane-treated HGB, compatibilized with maleated-PP, and with varying total and relative GF/HGB contents. Static/short-term flexural strength properties data revealed, through lower flexural strength values, that the presence of untreated HGB particles induces to fiber-polymer interfacial decoupling at much higher extent than in the presence of aminosilane-treated HGB particles. This phenomenon is also evident when evaluating the data from displacement-controlled three-point bending fatigue tests. Monitored up to 106 cycles, the analyzed hybrid composites presented distinct performance relative to their fatigue stress relaxation rate: the lower the matrix-reinforcements’ interfacial adhesion, more pronounced the stress relaxation rate as a function of the number of fatigue cycles. Dynamic Mechanical Thermal Analysis (DMTA) results could successfully reveal the hybrid composites behavior at the microstructural level when they were submitted to both static flexural test and fatigue, depending on the degree of interfacial interactions between the polymer matrix of PP and the hybrid reinforcements of GF and HGB (with and without aminosilane surface treatment).