Environmental Effect on the Water Absorption and Mechanical Properties of Carbon Fiber Reinforced PPS and PEEK

ABSTRACT: Research has been conducted to investigate the water absorption in carbon fiber reinforced polyether ether ketone (PEEK/C.F.) and polyphenylene sulfide compos-ites (PPS/C.F.). Effect of humidity and temperature on tensile, flexural and impact strength of these composites was also studied. Results indicated that the waters absorbed in PPS/C. F. and PEEK/C. F. are 0.059 wt% and 0.138 wt % respectively. The diffusion process is a classical Fickian diffusion in the temperature region investigated. The activation energies of diffusion are 667 cal/g-mole (for PPS/C.F.) and 8934 cal/g-mole (for PEEK/C.F.). The retention of mechanical properties of these composites is very good under hot-wet condition. These composites materials can be served as high performance materials even in the hostile environment. PEEK/C.F. composites show excellent mechanical properties retention even at 80°C and 75 % R.H. KEY WORDS: PPS, PEEK, carbon fiber reinforced composites, environmental effect, water absorption, mechanical properties