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Hygrothermal Behavior of Carbon Fiber Fabric Reinforced Vinylester Resin Composite Structures

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Abstract

The hygrothermal aging of vinylester resin and its carbon fiber fabric-reinforced composite structures is examined here, focusing on moisture absorption and the consequent degradation of mechanical properties. Specifically, resin casting and CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced polymer) specimens were prepared and immersed into the deionized water and artificial seawater, respectively, at a temperature of 70 °C. Regular weight measurements were taken, accompanied by surface morphology observations using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and identification of variations in functional groups through Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Meanwhile, the mechanical properties of resin and CFRP were periodically checked. The gravimetric analysis results indicate that resin immersed in deionized water exhibits non-Fickian diffusion due to strong hydrolysis, while CFRP obeys approximately Fickian diffusion because of the embedded carbon fiber inhibiting the hydrolysis. The examination of mechanical properties for CFRP reveals that moisture absorption significantly influences interlaminar shear strength, resulting in a maximum reduction of 13.5%.

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The raw/processed data required to reproduce these findings cannot be shared at this time due to technical or time limitations.

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Funding

This study was funded by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (WUT:203101002, 203201006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wuhan Second Ship Design and Research Institute, Wuhan, 430061, China

    Jincheng Gao, Xu Li & Jianhui Wei

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Xu Li, Yuheng Zhang, Jihui Wang & Anxin Ding

  3. State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, Hubei, China

    Anxin Ding

Authors
  1. Jincheng Gao
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  2. Xu Li
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  3. Jianhui Wei
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  4. Yuheng Zhang
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  5. Jihui Wang
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Contributions

Jincheng Gao: Formal analysis, Data curation, Validation. Xu Li and Jianhui Wei: Methodology. Yuheng Zhang: Formal analysis. Jihui Wang and Anxin Ding: Conceptualization, Writing-Original draft preparation. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Anxin Ding.

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Gao, J., Li, X., Wei, J. et al. Hygrothermal Behavior of Carbon Fiber Fabric Reinforced Vinylester Resin Composite Structures. Appl Compos Mater (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10443-024-10216-1

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