Flexural Behavior of Epoxy under Accelerated Hygrothermal Conditions

• Published in: Fibers Vol. 5; no. 3; p. 25
• Main Authors: Mohamed Elarbi, Abulgasem, Wu, Hwai-Chung
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-09-2017
• Subjects: accelerated test; Accelerated tests; Concrete structures; Epoxy resins; Fiber composites; Fiber reinforced plastics; fiber reinforced polymer (FRP); Fiber reinforced polymers; Flexural strength; hygrothermal effect; Load; Materials research; Polymer matrix composites; Relative humidity; resin; Stiffness; strength deterioration
• ISSN: 2079-6439; 2079-6439
• DOI: 10.3390/fib5030025

Fibers by themselves have a limited use in engineering applications since they cannot transmit loads from one to another; therefore, the matrix material plays an important role in the overall function of the fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites. This paper intends to study the long term strength of epoxy resins subject to accelerated hygrothermal conditions. Such tests are able to predict the weather durability performance of epoxy materials, which is particularly important for many FRP bonded concrete structures. Several sets of epoxy beam specimens have been constructed and exposed to various hygrothermal environments (25 °C, 100 °C, 180 °C and 0% or 100% relative humidity). Specimens were then evaluated at selected thermal cycles by three-point flexural tests. The flexural strength, mid-span deflection, and stiffness, as well as the mode of failure, have been examined in this study.