Damage Evolution and Long-Term Durability of Polymer Matrix Composite in Water Environment

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The aim of this research is to investigate the long term durability of GFRP in hydrothermal environment and to propose its lifetime prediction model. The GFRP under study is consisted with plain E-glass cloth and vinylester resin. The constant tensile load tests were conducted in hydrothermal environment (i.e. deionized water) and in air. The fracture occurred only in hydrothermal environment and the fracture time decreased with the increase in the applied stress and the temperature. The fracture time was predicted based on Reiner-Weissenberg criterion and the predicted results showed good agreement with the experimental data by considering the degradation induced by the hydrothermal aging and its acceleration by the increasing temperature.