The effect of environmental ageing on the interphase in glass fibre - vinyl ester composites

Thomason, James L and Xypolias, Georgios (2023) The effect of environmental ageing on the interphase in glass fibre - vinyl ester composites. Composite Interfaces, 30 (4). pp. 377-391. ISSN 0927-6440 (https://doi.org/10.1080/09276440.2022.2116842)

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Abstract

The results of a study of environmental ageing on the apparent interfacial shear strength of glass fibre – vinyl ester microbond samples are presented. The scale related issues of estimating water absorption levels in microbond samples are reviewed and discussed and a solution based on Fickian diffusion is given. Interphase strength of microdroplets aged in water at 23 °C was relatively stable up to 6 days exposure after which strength degradation was fairly rapid. Immersion in water at 50 °C resulted in an immediate 20-30% irreversible loss of strength. Further exposure beyond 2 days led to total loss of integrity of the microbond samples. Electron microscope images of aged microdroplets appeared to show the development of a bi-phasic microstructure. The presence of two phases in small scale vinyl ester polymer samples was confirmed by DMA on thin films.

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