Fibre Science and Technology 19 (1983) 317-324

Technical Note

Effect of Salt Water on Mechanical Properties of Fibre

Reinforced Plastics

SUMMARY

The effect of soaking in salt water and distilled water at various

temperatures on the mechanical properties of glass and carbon fibre
reinforced plastics has been studied in the present paper. The results
indicate that the degradation in compressive, interlaminar and flexural
strengths is much more severe in salt water than in distilled water. The
percentage weight gain is also higher in salt water for the same
temperature and duration of immersion.

INTRODUCTION

Unlike metals, the mechanical properties of reinforced plastics have been

observed to be very sensitive to the presence of moisture because small
molecules such as water can easily diffuse into the polymer matrix altering
the strength of bond between polymer molecules and the bond at the
fibre-matrix interface. Almost all the reinforced plastics in service are
subjected to the presence of atmospheric moisture at different
temperatures and hence this aspect of the composites has received
considerable attention.
Springer and his co-workers 1-3 have carried out studies on various
aspects of the phenomenon of moisture absorption in carbon fibre
reinforced composites and its effect on their mechanical properties. They
have studied the effect of moisture content on tensile strength at various
317
Fibre Science and Technology 0015-0568/83/$03.00 ~" Applied Science Publishers Ltd,
England, 1983. Printed in Great Britain
318 S. K. Rege, S. C. Lakkad

orientations of the fibres 1 and on the compressive strength and elastic

modulifl The third paper is basically a study in the measurement of
diffusivity of different liquids in the carbon fibre reinforced plastics
(CFRP) and the extent of weight gain of the C F R P as a function of
relative humidity, time and temperature. Lendemo and Thor 4 have
investigated the effect of environmental cycling on the tensile strength of
reinforced plastics for various fibre orientations, time of exposure,
temperature, etc. Another aspect, namely the residual stress generated by
swelling due to water absorption, has been studied by Pipes et al.5
In spite of these studies, there are several gaps in our knowledge of this
subject: for example, the interlaminar shear strength, which is an
important design parameter, has not received much attention from this
point of view. Secondly, though the effect of water absorption has
received considerable attention, the effect of salt water has received only a
little attention. 3 This effect has become increasingly important due to
marine applications of the carbon and glass fibre reinforced plastics
(GFRP).
The present study pertains to the effect on the mechanical properties of
unidirectional G F R P and C F R P laminates of soaking in salt water and
distilled water until saturation weight gain is achieved, at different
temperatures. The mechanical properties considered are: flexural
strength, compressive strength and interlaminar shear.

EXPERIMENTAL

The unidirectional C F R P and G F R P laminates having 3.0 mm thickness

were prepared by the filament winding process using a flat mandrel. The
epoxy resin CIBA LY 556 with hardener HT-972 was used as the matrix.
The reinforcement consisted of E-glass fibres and high strength carbon
fibres of type Torayca T 300 with 3000 filaments. The curing schedule
followed by the unreinforced resin and the composite was: 1 h at 373 K,
2 h at 393 K and 3 h at 423 K. The resin specimens of 5.0-mm thickness
were cast between two parallel plates. The specimens were cut from the
laminates and were shaped according to ASTM DD695-77 for
compression, ASTM D 790-71 for flexure and ASTM D 2733-70 for
interlaminar shear test.
It was observed in another study 6 that weight gain is very marginal at
all the temperatures considered after 72h in the G F R P and C F R P
 Effect of salt water on fibre reinforced plastics 319

specimens and after 96 h in the resin specimens. Hence, all the specimens
were soaked in salt water and distilled water for 120 h to ensure that they
were completely saturated. The specimens were soaked at 313 K, 333 K
and 353 K but the tests were carried out at room temperature almost
immediately after the specimens were taken out of the bath and weight
gain was measured. For the study of the effect of salt water, the solution
was prepared by adding 30 g of sodium chloride to one litre of the distilled
water, which gave a molar concentration of 0.5128 ra which is approxi-
mately the concentration of NaC1 in sea water.
The volume fraction of the glass and the carbon fibres in the composites
were determined from the densities of the composites, the reinforcements
and the resin. The values were also confirmed by gravimetric analysis after
burning resin for glass fibres and also by monitoring the weight of the
reinforcements used and the weight of the laminate finally fabricated.

RESULTS

The average values of results obtained for the compressive, flexural and
interlaminar shear strengths for the resin, G F R P and C F R P for the
soaked and the unsoaked specimens are presented in Tables 1, 2 and 3.
Table 1 presents the results for water absorption and the compressive and
the flexural strengths for cast epoxy resin cured under conditions identical
to those used for the composite laminates. Tables 2 and 3 provide results
for the weight gain and strengths for the soaked and the unsoaked G F R P
and C F R P laminates having reinforcement contents of 52 ~ and 54"6
respectively.

DISCUSSION

The results presented in Tables 1, 2 and 3 exhibit a very interesting

pattern of behaviour. All the strength values decrease with increasing
temperature of immersion. The reduction in strength is higher with
immersion in the salt water at the same temperature. The percentage
reduction in the flexural strength is in general more severe than in other
properties. The percentage reduction in any strength is almost directly
related to the percentage weight gain.
The figures for percentage reduction in the epoxy resin, G F R P and
320 S. K. Rege, S. C. L a k k a d

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 Effect of salt water on fibre reinforced plastics 323

C F R P are comparable, though the reduction in flexural strength in the

resin is maximum and that for the C F R P is minimum. However, the
compressive strength is least affected in the resin and almost equally
affected in C F R P and G F R P. The interlaminar shear strength is reduced
to a greater extent in the CFRP.
Two mechanisms can be imagined as contributing towards the overall
hygrothermal effects on the reinforced plastics. Firstly, at the macro-
scopic level, the expansion of the matrix due to absorption of water may
cause tensile stresses in the fibres and compressive stresses in the matrix
which is similar to differential thermal expansion. Secondly, at the
molecular level, the diffusing molecules of water and sodium chloride may
strain or rupture the intermolecular bond in the matrix and at the
interface. In the unreinforced resin the microscopic damage is the only
possible mechanism and in the reinforced plastics also this mechanism
predominates because the fibres are much stiffer than the matrix.
However, comparatively higher reduction in the compressive strength of
the composite can be attributed to the hydroexpansion.
The figures for weight gain of the specimens show several interesting
facets. The percentage weight gain increases with soaking temperature in
both cases, namely, for immersion in the distilled water and the salt water.
The weight gain for the specimens in the salt water is much higher. In fact,
it is much higher than the difference in the specific gravities of distilled
(1.0) and salt water (1.03). This implies that there is either preferential
diffusion of NaC1 molecules or that the presence of salt creates an
additional capacity in the specimen to accommodate more water. This
aspect is presently under investigation.
Another interesting feature is revealed by the figures in the last row for
weight gain per unit volume. The values for the reinforced resin are much
higher than those for unreinforced resin. This is a surprising result
because, considering that about half the volume is occupied by
reinforcement; the remaining half of the volume in G F R P and C F R P
contains approximately one and a half to twice the absorbed material.
Since the diffusion of water is considered to be extremely low in the fibres,
most of the water has to be accommodated in the matrix and at the
interface. If the capacity of the matrix is assumed to remain unchanged
then it leads to the conclusion that a considerable amount of material
collects at the interface.
The collection of material at the interface leads to deterioration of the
properties which are strongly affected by the state of the interface such as
324 s.K. Rege, S. C. Lakkad

the interlaminar shear and the compressive strengths. This perhaps

explains the considerable degradation observed in the properties
investigated here and the absence of substantial reduction in the tensile
strength in the study by Shen and Springer.1
Thus, the results of the present work clearly indicate that the
degradation in compressive, interlaminar and flexural strengths is much
more in salt water than in distilled water. Therefore, an estimate of wet
strength based on water immersion tests would be highly misleading. This
is particularly important when contemplating marine applications for
C F R P and G F R P .

ACKNOWLDGEMENT

The authors are grateful to the Science and Engineering Research

Council, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India,
for financial support.

REFERENCES

1. C. H. Shen and G. S. Springer, Effect of moisture and temperature on the

tensile strength of composite materials, J, Composite Materials, 1! (1977)
p.2.
2. C. H. Shen and G. S. Springer, Environmental effects on the elastic module of
composite materials, J. Composite Materials, I1 (1977) p. 250.
3. A. C. Loos and G. S. Springer, Moisture absorption of graphite epoxy
composites immersed in liquids and humid air, J. Composite Materials, 13
(1979) p. 131.
4. C. Y. Lendemo and S. E. Thor, Influence of environmental cycling on the
mechanical properties of the composite materials, J. Composite Materials, 11
(1977) p. 276.
5. R. B. Pipes, J. R. Vinson and T. W. Chou, On the hygrothermal response of
the laminated composite systems, J. Composite Materials, 10 (1976) p. 129.
6. S. K. Rege and S. C. Lakkad, Diffusion in fibre reinforced composites,
unpublished work.

S. K. Rege and S. C. Lakkad,

Department o f Aeronautical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology,
Bombay 400 076, India