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Effect of Fiber Packing on Moisture Diffusivity and Tortuosity in Fiber Reinforced Composites
Abstract
Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) composites are widely used in marine environment due to their high specific strength, increased durability and corrosion resistance property. But these materials when subjected to seawater absorb moisture that results in the reduction of material strength due to matrix plasticization and reduced interfacial strength due to de-bonding at the fiber-matrix interface. To ensure long-term durability and damage tolerance, it is important to understand the impact of moisture diffusion and moisture-induced damage in composites. To that end, the goal of this paper is to elucidate the importance of fiber packing and orientation on moisture diffusion such that CFRP composites can be optimally design for marine applications. In this paper, we developed computational models within finite element method to study the long-term response of CFRP composites subjected to moisture conditions. We developed twodimensional micromechanical diffusion models with varying fiber volume fraction and different fiber distribution like square, hexagonal and random array to study the influence of fiber packing on the effective diffusivity and moisture saturation. Specifically, we elucidated the influence of tortuous diffusion pathways that manifest due to these micromechanical geometric properties of CFRP.
Keywords
Moisture Diffusion, Diffusivity, Tortuosity, Micromechanics, FEAText
DOI
10.12783/asc35/34876
10.12783/asc35/34876