Hygrothermal Effects on RT-Cured Glass-Epoxy Composites in Immersion Environments. Part B: Degradation Studies

ABSTRACT: The degradative effects of artificial seawater and distilled water immersion at 333 ° K on the mechanical properties (ILSS, compression strength) of BID glass/epoxy composite materials has been studied. Experimental results showed that the composite deg-radation trends were similar in both the media. It was found that the composite specimens exhibited a higher compressive and ILSS retention when immersed in the artificial seawa-ter than when immersed in distilled water. This is attributed to the moisture absorption lev-els being higher in specimens immersed in distilled water than those immersed in artificial seawater (Part A). Further, it was found that the measured and predicted mechanical strength retention ratios (compression and ILSS) were in fairly good agreement with each other for both the immersion conditions