Effect of Hydrothermal Ageing on Glass Fibre Reinforced Plastic (GFRP) Composite Laminates exposed to Water and Salt Water

Abstract

Glass fibre reinforced plastic (GFRP) composites are being used in a large number of diverse applications ranging from aerospace to sports equipment. The reinforcement materials are highly hygroscopic; the matrix material provides protection to the reinforcement. When the edges of composite materials parts made of are exposed to environment, water molecules passes along the reinforcement. This leads damage to the interfacial bonding and affects the performance of the composite laminate. It is necessary to perform mechanical and environmental characterization to enhance their application spectrum. There is an imminent need to investigate the mechanical behavior of these materials when subjected to different environmental conditions at different exposure schedules. The aim of the present work is an attempt to provide the investigation procedure to assess influence of moisture absorption on strength degradation coupled with temperature and estimated the life cycle time of polymer composite components. From the results and mathematical analysis, it was clear that the tensile behavior and flexural modulus of the conditioned specimens were significantly reduced due to the environmental impact.