DESIGN LIMITS FOR POLYESTER SMCs.

SMCs are often disregarded as significant load bearing materials for engineering applications. One reason for this is the wide range of mechanical properties obtained from industrial moldings compared with the relatively narrow ranges obtained from test panels. Differences in mold flow are one cause of the anomaly. Tensile, shear and fatigue properties have been measured for coupons from test panel moldings produced under several conditions of controlled flow, and the ranges of measured static properties match those of industrial moldings. For the designer, an empirical relationship is presented which gives the expected maximum and minimum limits of strength for some simple molding geometries which can be used.