Effect of Water Immersion on Mechanical Properties of Polyurethane Pultruded Composites by

Polyurethane resins are being considered in a large number of new pultrusion applications, with many involving some type of environmental exposure. However, environmental data for thermoset polyurethane pultruded composites is not as widely available as it is for more common pultrusion resins such as polyester. This study examines three different formulations of polyurethane pultruded samples immersed in 150 o F water over a 30-33 day period. Three-point flexural tests, short-beam tests, and compression tests were conducted over the 30 days of water immersion. These data were compared with a large database of properties for common pultruded composites using other resins exposed to similar environmental conditions. These comparisons show that the polyurethane composites offer better mechanical performance compared with pultruded composites produced from more commonly used resin systems.