Environmental effects on E-glass and C-glass fiber reinforced vinylester composites

Abstract

This study dealt with the fracture behaviors of Ε-glass fiber and C-glass fiber plain woven fabric reinforced vinylester composites under static tensile stress after the exposure to hydrothermal and acid environments. The laminates were immersed in water at 95°C or acid solution at room temperature. After the immersion, the step-stress was applied to the specimen to failure by loading-unloading process and the fracture behavior was monitored simultaneously through the AE analyses. The effect of acid solution at room temperature on the laminate strength was poor in this paper (in immersion time less than 100 hours), however it induces the micro-damage during immersion and such damage derived the higher accumulation of AE event count. On the contrary, the immersion in hot water induced remarkable strength reduction in both laminates. However, AE results suggested that the degradation mechanism might be different depending on the fiber type.