Effects of Different Relative Humidities on Flax Fibers prior to Manufacturing Their Composites Based on the Shear Response
The moisture absorption behavior of flax fiber-reinforced epoxy composites is deliberated to be a serious issue. This property restricts their usage as outdoor engineering structures. Therefore, this study provides an investigation of moisture in flax fibers on the performance of the flax/epoxy comp...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Advances in Materials Science and Engineering |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/4785970 |
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| Summary: | The moisture absorption behavior of flax fiber-reinforced epoxy composites is deliberated to be a serious issue. This property restricts their usage as outdoor engineering structures. Therefore, this study provides an investigation of moisture in flax fibers on the performance of the flax/epoxy composite materials based on their shear responses. The ±45° aligned flax fibers exposed to different relative humidities (RH) and the vacuum infusion process was used to manufacture the composite specimens. The optimum shear strength (40.25 ± 0.75 MPa) was found for the composites manufactured with 35% RH-conditioned flax fibers, but the shear modulus was reduced consistently with increasing RH values. Although shear strength was increased because of fiber swelling with increased moisture absorption rate until 35% RH environments with good microstructures, nonetheless, strength and modulus both started to decrease after this range. A very poor microstructure has been affirmed by the SEM images of the composite samples conditioned at 90% RH environments. |
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| ISSN: | 1687-8434 1687-8442 |