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Fractographic study of thermoplastic composites based on carbon fiber/PA6 conditioned in heated distilled water and saline solution and tested in tensile

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Abstract

The weathering and environmental factors to which components are exposed during their useful life can promote damage and, consequently, premature failure in service. Thus, through the morphological analysis of fracture surfaces, it is possible to identify the failure modes and the main fractographic aspects present on the fracture surface. From these data, it is possible to increase the knowledge of the behavior of the material in service or even to have information for preventive corrections in the processing and use of material. Fractographic studies of carbon fiber (CF)/thermoplastic matrix composites are still little explored in the literature and can bring important contributions to understanding the failure mode of this class of materials. The objective of this work is to study the fractographic aspects of CF/polyamide 6 (PA6) composite exposed to two different conditionings, that is, distilled water at 80 ºC and saline solution, tested in tensile. Scanning electron microscopy analyses showed that the CF/PA6 laminate has a good consolidation and an excellent CF/matrix interface. Plastic deformations and fiber bridging are present in the fracture surface of the unconditioned specimens. However, after conditioning in distilled water at 80 ºC, the matrix became more fragile and the interface weaker. The conditioning in saline solution was less aggressive due to the salt effect that decreased the water migration into the specimens. The fractographic study performed shows in detail the influence of environmental deterioration using accelerated weathering on the fracture surface of thermoplastic laminates tested in tensile.

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Acknowledgements and Funding

The authors thank the Brazilian Funding institutions Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES, 001) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq – Processes 305,123/2018–13, 10,196/2018–3, and 405,675/2018–6) for the financial support, and also the Federal Government Program ‘Rota 2030’ linked to the “Development of Skills for Design and Manufacturing of Tooling for Composite Parts” n° 27,194.03.03/2020.01–00 for the financial support; the Lightweight Structures Laboratory from IPT (Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnológicas do Estado de São Paulo) for the coordination, and also the Brazilian Funding Institutions FIPT (Fundação de Apoio do IPT), FUNDEP (Fundação de Desenvolvimento da Pesquisa) for the administrative support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Polymer and Biopolymer Technology Laboratory (TecPBio), Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP), 330 Talim St., São José Dos Campos, 12231-280, Brazil

    Larissa Stieven Montagna, Guilherme Ferreira de Melo Morgado, Fabio Roberto Passador & Mirabel Cerqueira Rezende

  2. Lightweight Structures Laboratory (LEL), Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnológicas Do Estado de São Paulo (IPT), 550 Dr. Altino Bondensan St., São José dos Campos, 12230-002, Brazil

    Alessandro Guimarães

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  1. Larissa Stieven Montagna
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  2. Guilherme Ferreira de Melo Morgado
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Correspondence to Larissa Stieven Montagna.

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Fractographic analysis of CF/PA6 composites after environmental conditioning.

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Montagna, L.S., de Melo Morgado, G.F., Guimarães, A. et al. Fractographic study of thermoplastic composites based on carbon fiber/PA6 conditioned in heated distilled water and saline solution and tested in tensile. J Polym Res 30, 447 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-023-03826-z

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