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Effect of Void Content on the Moisture Absorption in

Polymeric Composites
a b c
Michelle Leali Costa , Mirabel Cerqueira Rezende & Sérgio Frascino M. de Almeida
a
Divisão de Materiais/Instituto de Aeronáutica e Espaço/Centro Técnico Aeroespacial, Praça
Marechal do Ar Eduardo Gomes , Vila das Acácias, São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil
b
Divisão de Materiais/Instituto de Aeronáutica e Espaço/Centro Técnico Aeroespacial , São
José dos Campos, SP, Brazil
c
Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica, Departamento de Engenharia Aeronáutica e
Mecânica , São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil
Published online: 15 Feb 2007.

To cite this article: Michelle Leali Costa , Mirabel Cerqueira Rezende & Sérgio Frascino M. de Almeida (2006) Effect of Void
Content on the Moisture Absorption in Polymeric Composites, Polymer-Plastics Technology and Engineering, 45:6, 691-698,
DOI: 10.1080/03602550600609549

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 Polymer-Plastics Technology and Engineering, 45: 691–698, 2006
Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0360-2559 print/1525-6111 online
DOI: 10.1080/03602550600609549

Effect of Void Content on the Moisture Absorption in

Polymeric Composites
Michelle Leali Costa
Divisão de Materiais=Instituto de Aeron
autica e Espaço=Centro Técnico Aeroespacial, Praça
Marechal do Ar Eduardo Gomes, Vila das Ac acias, São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil

Mirabel Cerqueira Rezende

Divisão de Materiais=Instituto de Aeron
autica e Espaço=Centro Técnico Aeroespacial,
São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil
Downloaded by [National Sun Yat-Sen University] at 16:06 30 December 2014

Sérgio Frascino M. de Almeida

Instituto Tecnol
ogico de Aeron
autica, Departamento de Engenharia Aeronautica e Mecânica,
São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil

such as interlaminar shear strength, longitudinal and

This study assesses the effect of porosity in the moisture absorption
of polymeric composites. The preparation of composites samples with
porosity, control, and measurement of void content, and moisture
absorption behavior of carbon/epoxy laminates are discussed. Rheolo-
gical analyses are used to characterize the viscosity behavior of
prepregs either in the presence or absence of moisture. Polymeric
composites with different levels of voids were produced and submitted
to hygrothermal conditioning to study the moisture absorption beha-
vior. It was found that the rate of water uptake and the maximum level
of moisture absorption in carbon/epoxy composites depends on the
void content and specimen geometry. The dependence on the void con-
tent may be quite significant. The nature of the matrix system was also
verified to affect the moisture absorption properties of the composite.
Keywords Polymer-matrix composites; Porosity; Rheological
properties; Environmental degradation; Moisture
absorption
INTRODUCTION
The high specific strength, stiffness, and good chemical
resistance of carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer matrix com-
posites make them attractive for applications in aerospace
components, sporting goods, civil structures, and marine
vehicles[1]. However, manufacturing defects, particularly
voids, may be formed in these materials, degrading their
structural performance. In polymeric composite materials,
voids have been shown to reduce mechanical properties
Address correspondence to Mirabel Cerqueira Rezende, Divisão
de Materiais, Instituto de Aeronautica e Espaço, Centro Técnico
Aeroespacial, Praça Marechal do Ar Eduardo Gomes, N 50, Vila
das Acacias, 12228-904, Brazil. E-mail: mleali@directnet.com.br
transverse strength, modulus, and fatigue resistance[2,3].
Voids are formed during manufacturing for several rea-
sons. One reason is the air entrapment in the composite
part during the initial manufacturing stage, due to either
air bubbles trapping in the viscous resin formulations dur-
ing the impregnation and consolidation steps or poor wet-
ting of filaments. Poor wetting tends to be aggravated by
the use of high viscosity resins, which hinders the matrix
percolation in the fiber bundles and the displacement of
the air trapped in the reinforcement. Also, volatile compo-
nents or contamination can form voids by vaporizing
during the composite cure cycle[2].
Environmental effects must also be considered, as the
polymeric preimpregnated material can absorb moisture,
changing their physical and chemical properties[4–6]. The
wide range of composite materials applications results in
an almost inevitable contact with liquids and vapors, either
organic or aqueous, which can affect both the immediate
and the long-term performance of the material. The
mechanisms of water absorption, the plasticizing effect
of absorbed moisture, and the lowering of glass-rubber
transition temperature are well-known processes that have
been widely studied in polymeric materials[4,5,7–11]. Water
absorption in composite materials has also been studied,
and it has been shown that, in general, the mechanisms
of moisture penetration are much more complex than in
the case of the unreinforced matrix[4,5,12].
Moisture absorption has been shown to lead to general
reduction of the mechanical properties of composites.
This has been attributed, in part, to degradation of the

691
 692 M. L. COSTA ET AL.
fiber-matrix interfacial bond[4,5,7,12]. It has been shown that
the use of special fiber surface treatment can reduce the
sensitivity of certain mechanical properties to water. Typical
cases are mentioned in the literature as the manufacture of
glass or carbon-fiber-reinforced epoxy composites[1,4,5,13,14].
Although the improvement in some properties in the wet con-
dition is well documented, it is still not fully clear how the
water and the fiber=surface, treatment=matrix region inter-
act[15]. In particular, there are questions concerning water
absorption preferentially along the fiber-matrix interface
(wicking effect), leading to the bond’s hydrolysis between
the surface treatment and the fiber and resulting in the degra-
dation of the fiber-matrix adhesion. It is thought that the
wicking mechanism is not active unless the fiber matrix
adhesion is weak, possibly as a result of degradation by water
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of the interface. However, the exact role of the interface in the
water absorption process is not fully understood, and there
are conflicting results in the literature[4,5,7–12].
The way in which composite materials absorb water
depends upon many factors, such as temperature, fiber
volume fraction, orientation of reinforcement, fiber nature
(permeable or impermeable), geometry of exposed surfaces,
diffusivity, and surface protection. The major mechanism
of moisture penetration into composite materials is dif-
fusion. This mechanism involves direct diffusion of water
into the matrix, and, to a much lesser extent, into the fibers.
The other common mechanisms are capillarity and trans-
port by microcracks. The capillarity mechanism involves
flow of water molecules along the fiber-matrix interface,
followed by diffusion from the interface into the bulk resin.
Transport of moisture by microcracks involves both flow
and storage of water in microcracks or other forms of
microdamage[16].
Although the sorption processes of liquids and vapor
in thermoset polymers are complex, water diffusion in
epoxy resin matrices has been frequently represented by a
Fickian behavior. This model is based on the hypothesis
that the moisture flow is proportional to the gradient of
concentration. Many authors confirmed in their works
the validity of the Fickian diffusion model for polymer
composites[9,10,17–25].
Aircraft composite parts are exposed to water, fuel,
and mechanical stresses. These combined effects may
cause severe damage to composite structures. A detailed
investigation of the absorption behavior of the material is
TABLE 1
Characteristics of the specimens manufactured
Matrix Type of Laminate
material reinforcement thickness (mm)
Epoxy Fabric 4.1
Tape 3.0
necessary in order to understand the material changes
induced by hygrothermal effects.
In this work, the influence of void content on the moist-
ure absorption in carbon=epoxy fabric and unidirectional
tape laminates is experimentally investigated. The prep-
aration of composite samples with intentionally high
porosity levels and measurements of void content are
described. Rheological analysis is used to characterize the
matrix behavior in the presence or not of moisture, and
the moisture absorption behavior of carbon=epoxy lami-
nates is discussed for different levels of void content and
different geometries.
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
Materials
Two types of composite laminates were studied in this
work: carbon fabric and unidirectional tape reinforced
epoxy. T300 fibers were used for all laminate sets. Fabric
reinforced laminates were produced with eight-harness,
satin-weave preimpregnated fabric (prepreg) with epoxy
resin (F584) supplied by Hexcel Composites. Table 1
describes the characteristics of the specimens manufactured
in this work to evaluate the effect of the laminate geometry
and void content on the moisture absorption. Each specimen
type is defined by the type of reinforcement and laminate
geometry. A designation for each specimen type is provided
in Table 1. Each individual specimen is identified by the
designation of the specimen type followed by a number
referring to its void content. The specimens are numbered
in increasing order of porosity. A reference specimen of each
specimen type was produced to represent the behavior of
low–void content laminates.
Rheological Analysis
These analyses aimed at elucidating the behavior of
prepregs in the presence of moisture. Understanding this
behavior is key to the development of a controlled procedure
to intentionally introduce voids in polymer composites. The
Newtonian behavior region for each prepreg was obtained
by plotting curves of stress (s) as a function of complex
viscosity (g
); subsequently, curves of complex viscosity
versus temperature (T) were obtained. These analyses were
carried out using a Rheometrics Scientific rheometer model
Laminate Laminate
width (mm) length (mm) Designation
6.4 24.0 FAB
6.4 18.0 TAP
 EFFECT OF VOID CONTENT 693

SR5 with a heating modulus (Environmental System) SR5
and parallel plates, frequency of 1.0 Hz and gap 0.4 mm.
The Newtonian region of the carbon=epoxy prepreg was
determined by scanning the stress (s) from 10 to 10,000 Pa
at 25C. This procedure keeps the prepreg from sliding
between the parallel plates. For the carbon=epoxy system,
the viscosity tends to remain constant when the shear stress
is around 1000 Pa. After establishing the Newtonian region
for the samples, the dynamical scanning of complex
viscosity as function of temperature was carried out at a
heating rate of 5C=min, from 25C to 190C.
The same procedure was used for the wet prepreg after
introducing the water by spraying, as finely and uniformly
as possible, over the prepreg and resting it for 10 min. After
this resting time, the prepreg was analyzed.
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that were carefully aligned to maximize the transmitted
signal. The probes were transported by an Automation
US640 system that generates a quantized C-scan record of
the plate. An actual-size map of the laminate plate is gener-
ated after scanning, associating a color to each attenuation
level. This feature was used to identify areas of constant
porosity level. Areas of uniform porosity within each plate
were identified, and different levels of void and fiber content
specimens were assigned to each area.
Using the described procedure, specimens with seven
different porosity levels ranging from 1.41% to 5.6% were
obtained for the carbon fabric=epoxy. Carbon tape=epoxy
specimens were produced with six different porosities
ranging from 0.80% to 11.7%. Also, one additional lami-
nate plate for each type of resin system and reinforcement

was produced using the standard manufacturing tech-

Preparation of Samples with Voids nique to establish a reference for good-quality laminate
The polymer composites with high porosity were manu- (low porosity level). The void content and fiber content
factured using a procedure based on the rheological analy- in volume of each area were measured by matrix diges-
ses of the wet prepregs. Laminates presenting intentionally tion according to ASTM 3171. Fiber and resin density
high porosity levels were produced combining the tech- values used in the calculations were provided by the
nique proposed by Almeida and Nogueira Neto[26] and manufacturer.
Olivier et al.[6]. This procedure involved the control of Table 2 shows the average value and standard devia-
the effective pressure on the liquid resin during the cure tion of void content measurements for the reference plate
combining with the introduction of moisture between the and shows each selected area with uniform porosity level
layers during the layup, as suggested by Gürdal et al.[27] for the carbon fabric=epoxy specimens with 4.1 mm of
Moisture was introduced by spraying water finely and thickness and the carbon tape=epoxy specimens with
uniformly to produce laminate plates with homogeneous 3.0 mm of thickness. The average value of five measure-
porosity. Then, the effective pressure on the liquid resin ments was taken as the nominal void content associated
and the amount of moisture dispersed into the laminate with each porosity level. The volume fiber content was
were used to control the porosity level. All specimens were between 62% and 71% for the carbon fabric=epoxy speci-
cured in an autoclave at 180C with pressure of 0.71 MPa. mens and between 64% to 69% for the carbon tape=epoxy
The laminate thickness for each type of specimen is epoxy specimens.
given in Table 1. The main purpose is to assess the effect
of voids on the moisture intake of laminates. The speci-
mens were also used to study the effect of environmental TABLE 2
conditions on the interlaminar shear and the compressive Void content measurements for carbon=epoxy fabric
strength of laminates with porosities. However, these and unidirectional tape for the thicker laminates
results are not presented here, as they are the subject of (3.0 and 4.1 mm)
forthcoming papers[28,29]. The fabric- and tape-reinforced
laminates were produced, respectively, with 14 and 18 plies Carbon=epoxy Carbon=epoxy
with the fabric warp direction aligned to the plate edges fabric samples tape samples
([0, 90]14 or [0]18 laminates). The resulting 14 plies of car- Average void Average void
bon fabric=epoxy and 18 plies of carbon unidirectional Specimen content, Specimen content,
tape=epoxy laminates used for ILSS specimens were designation Vv (%) designation Vv (%)
6.35 mm wide, 24 mm long, and of 4.1 mm or 3.0 mm
nominal thickness, respectively. Ref 0.55  0.03 Ref 0.20  0.03
All plates were ultrasonically inspected to assess the FAB - 1 1.41  0.03 TAP - 1 0.80  0.03
resulting distribution of porosities. The samples were FAB - 2 1.90  0.02 TAP - 2 1.15  0.03
inspected using an ultrasonic failure detector Reflectoscope FAB - 3 2.17  0.02 TAP - 3 1.67  0.21
S80 with a 0,75000 , 5 MHz transmitter (Automation X19625) FAB - 4 2.18  0.02 TAP - 4 3.21  0.03
and a receiver (Automation X19267). Water squirts were FAB - 5 2.40  0.09 TAP - 5 4.22  0.03
used to transport the ultrasonic beams to reduce surface FAB - 6 4.01  0.02 TAP - 6 11.7  0.02
losses. The plates were mounted midway between probes FAB - 7 5.60  0.03 — —
 694 M. L. COSTA ET AL.
Moisture Absorption
The moisture absorption of carbon=epoxy laminates
with different levels of porosity was measured according
to procedure B of ASTM D 5229=D5229 M-92. In this
study, the moisture absorption was monitored placing the
samples for a long specified time (until saturation) in a
humidity-controlled chamber (Heraeus Vötsch model
VUK08=1000) at 80C and 95% relative humidity (RH).
The size and weight of the specimens were measured as a
function of time. All specimens were dried according of
ASTM C562-85 before the hygrothermal conditioning.
Every week, only the traveler samples were removed from
the humidity-controlled chamber and weighted. Specimens
were allowed to cool down for a short period of time before
weighting. The effect of removing the specimens from the
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chamber for a short period of time on the measurement
of weight gains was shown to be negligible. The specimen
weight was measured using a scale with 0.1 mg accuracy.
This procedure was repeated for 9 weeks until reaching
the limit of saturation (constant weight).
RESULTS
Rheological Analysis
Figure 1 shows the viscosity variation as a function of
the temperature of carbon fabric=epoxy prepregs in the
dry and wet conditions. As expected, it is initially observed
that a decrease of viscosity occurred with the increase of
temperature up to approximately 60C. This behavior
FIG. 1. Complex viscosity as a function of the temperature for carbon fabric=epoxy laminate.
occurs because the temperature increase favors the increase
of intermolecular movement and, consequently, the free
volume between the molecules. The increase of free volume
diminishes the friction among the molecules, consequently
decreasing the resin viscosity[30,31]. However, as the tem-
perature rises beyond this point, the molecular vibration
and the probability of intermolecular contacts also
increases, favoring the beginning of reactions and cross-
links among the chains (beginning of cure); the intermole-
cular motion is impeded and, as a consequence, the
viscosity increases again. Above 60C, an intense variation
begins to occur in the rheological behavior of the system
probably caused by two major factors: (a) beginning
of the cure process and (b) heterogeneity of resin in the car-
bon reinforcement. The insert in Figure 1 shows a zoom of
the curves in logarithmic scale in the 30C to 100C range.
A polymer composite is a nonhomogeneous material
formed by two constituents (resin and reinforcement). In
the temperature range in which the resin presents low
viscosity, it flows heterogeneously through the carbon
fiber reinforcing. Thus, at a certain instant, the viscosity
measurement may capture the effect of the reinforcement
alone (high peaks); at another instant of time, the resin
effects may be dominant (down peaks); finally, eventually,
these combined effects may govern the viscosity measure-
ments (medium peaks). This fact makes rheological
measurements unreliable for carbon=epoxy dry prepreg
above 70C and also for carbon=epoxy wet prepreg above
90C (Fig. 1).
 EFFECT OF VOID CONTENT 695

Figure 1 shows that the absorption of water in the

prepreg decreases the system viscosity since the beginning
of the analysis. The initial viscosity of epoxy prepreg is
around 400,000 Pa.s. but in the presence of moisture it
decreases to 20,000 Pa.s. This fact suggests that the water
hydrolyzes the van der Waals bonding, the hydrogen bond-
ing, and others forces (inter- and intramolecular) of the
resin, increasing the free volume between the molecules.
Consequently, the viscosity decreases, and the material
cure process is retarded. This observed rheological beha-
vior explains the formation of voids in polymeric compo-
sites in the presence of water in the system. In the
laminate autoclave cure process, the temperature and
pressure increases, leading to a strong decrease of the poly-
mer matrix viscosity, favoring the resin flow between the
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carbon fibers, wetting them irregularly. This behavior

favors the formation of regions with dry fibers and others
rich in resin and pores.

Moisture Absorption
It is well known that the presence of moisture within poly- FIG. 2. Moisture absorption curves for 4.1 mm thick carbon fabric=
epoxy laminates with different void contents.
meric composites often degrades their physical and mechan-
ical properties. In most cases, the degradation has been
found to depend primarily upon the total amount of moist- in a single free phase, and it is driven to penetrate the resin
ure absorbed. The primary objective of the moisture- by the water concentration gradient difference. Above the
conditioning experiments reported herein was to ascertain linear portion, the curves show a concave aspect. For
the effects of voids upon equilibrium moisture content. longer periods of exposition, a slow positive deviation from
There is also interest in determining whether moisture dif- the Fickian pseudoequilibrium state was observed. Such
fusion in composites with voids could be described by classi- continuous slow absorption processes have been reported
cal diffusion theory (i.e., Fick’s law) since this has been the by various authors and can be attributed either to slow
most commonly employed model for diffusion in composites relaxation processes of the epoxy network or to the hygro-
in the literature. thermally induced filling of voids[4,5,7–11].
The water gain percentage, M%, is determined from




Mu  Md

M %¼


 100 ð1Þ
Md

where Mu – is the wet weight of specimen (water-absorbed
matrix) (g), and Md – is the initial weight of dry specimen, (g).
Figures 2 and 3 show absorption curves (weight gain,
M in % by weight versus square root time) obtained for
all laminates studied in this work.
Choi et al.[11] discovered that the saturated water uptake
is independent on the specimen’s thickness for thin lami-
nates (up to 0.9 mm). However, their data refer to speci-
mens with the same geometry except for the thickness. It
can be noticed in Figures 2 and 3 that the specimen
geometry may affect the measured saturated water uptake
absorption. Consequently, only measurements for speci-
mens with similar geometry can be directly compared.
Most absorption curves present a linear behavior in the
initial stages. Moisture content increases linearly with the
square root of time at first and then reaches a pseudoequi-
librium state. Such behavior is characteristic of a Fickian FIG. 3. Moisture absorption curves for 3.0 mm thick carbon tape=
diffusion system. Moisture is then considered to remain epoxy laminates with different void contents.
 696 M. L. COSTA ET AL.

The significant effect of void content upon both the rate

and the total amount of moisture absorbed was also veri-
fied. The water absorption increases with the void content.
Absorption curves of large void content samples presented
non-Fickian anomalies. For example, an ‘‘apparent’’ equi-
librium of moisture content is attained almost instan-
taneously as opposed to the gradual Fick diffusion
reached in approximately 5 weeks. The moisture content
remains almost constant until a new increase, which leads
to a new equilibrium between 7 and 9 weeks.
Thus, the obtained results show that the void content is a
factor that determines the water absorption characteristics,
both in terms of initial rate of absorption and on the final
equilibrium level. Only laminates with a low measured void
content (<1.5%) showed water absorption characteristics
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comparable to those of reference laminates. Thomason[5]

and Harper et al.[9] described similar effect of voids on water
absorption in glass=epoxy composites and carbon-
fiber-reinforced epoxy laminates, respectively. Harper
et al.[9] showed results from one laminate type from 1 to
5% void content. They found similar effects to those
reported by Thomason[5]: an increase in the initial slope
and equilibrium water uptake at higher void content.
According to Thomason[5], enclosed voids provide water
storage at much higher concentration than in the resin,
raising in this way the maximum water absorption level of
composite. In a simple attempt to explain the effect of voids,
the equilibrium weight fraction of water (Wcm) in the
composite relative to the matrix content may be expressed as
 
DMm þ Volv qw K
Wcm ¼ ð2Þ
Mm
where Mm is the mass of the matrix; DMm is the mass of
water absorbed by the matrix; Volv is the total volume of
voids in the composite sample; qw is the density of water,
and K is the volume fraction of water stored in a void; it
can be seen as a water absorption void-sensitive factor. This
can be rearranged to yield
" ! # having triangular shape with resin-rich areas at the tips[2,3].
1 wf 1 The voids tend to be localized into the resin pockets
Wcm ¼ Wm þ Kqw þ Vv
qm wm qf 1  Vv
Vv
¼ Wm þ KC ð3Þ
1  Vv
where Wm is the equilibrium weight fraction of water in the
matrix; qf and qm are the fiber and matrix densities, respect-
ively; wf and wm are fiber and matrix weight fractions,
respectively; Vv is the volume fraction of voids in the
composite; and C ¼ ðqw =qm Þ þ ððwf qw Þ=ðwm qf ÞÞ is a nondi-
mensional constant for each laminate type.
Using typical values for the physical properties of
carbon fiber and epoxy matrix yields C ¼ 2.14 for
carbon=epoxy specimens. In the computations, it was
FIG. 4. Maximum moisture intake versus composite void content for
carbon fabric=epoxy and carbon tape=epoxy laminates.
assumed that the fiber weight fraction is wf ¼ 69.8% for
the carbon=epoxy specimens.
In Equation (3), K is the only unknown parameter[5].
Using a best-fit procedure of Equation (3) to the data in
Figure 4 yields the values of parameter K presented in
Table 3. It can be noticed from Figure 4 that the behavior
of the carbon tape=epoxy system may be represented by a
bilinear relationship thus characterized by two distinctive
values of K. This may be explained by the fact that the
shape, size, and distribution of voids in this material system
depends on the void content[2,3].
The values of K are higher for tape specimens than for
fabric specimens. This result is also explained by the differ-
ent shape and distribution of voids in tape- and fabric-
reinforced laminates[2,3]. In fabric laminates, voids are
typically located at the crossing of the fiber tows, therefore
along the fiber=matrix interface. In carbon tape=epoxy lami-
nates, the voids tend to be spherical and homogeneously
TABLE 3
Volume fraction of water stored in a void (parameter K)
for each laminate type
Type of
reinforcement Designation K
Fabric FAB 0.01682
Tape TAP 0.15280 to Vv < 1.91%
0.02429 to Vv > 1.91%
 EFFECT OF VOID CONTENT
distributed for low void content; for higher-volume con-
tents, they tend to be elongated due to coalescence[2,3]. These
differences in the morphology of the voids are determined by
the chemical nature and physical properties of the resin
matrices and processing parameters used[2,3].
Moisture absorption and the effect of void content on
the moisture absorption depends on a number of factors:
laminate geometry, type of reinforcement, matrix material,
and fiber content. These factors govern the equilibrium
weight fraction of moisture in the matrix and the shape,
size, and distribution of voids. In turn, the sensitivity of
moisture absorption to void content is determined by the
shape and distribution of the voids and the matrix material
affinity to water. The shape, size, and distribution of voids
affect the moisture absorption, thus affecting the value of
Downloaded by [National Sun Yat-Sen University] at 16:06 30 December 2014
constant K. This explains the different values experimen-
tally observed for the different material systems.
CONCLUSIONS
It can be observed from the rheological curves that the
viscosity of carbon=epoxy decreases with the increase of
the temperature up until the gel point is reached and the
cure process of resin systems begins. After this point, it is
impossible to study the rheological behavior of the prepreg
systems. It is observed that the moisture introduction into
the prepreg decreases the system viscosity since the begin-
ning of the analyses. The initial viscosity of epoxy prepreg
decreases by about a factor of 20 with the presence of
moisture showing that the epoxy resin is sensitive to the
effects of moisture. This rheological behavior explains the
mechanism of void formation in the polymeric composites
with the introduction of moisture in the system. The pres-
ence of moisture during the laminate autoclave cure pro-
cess causes the matrix viscosity to decrease drastically.
Therefore, the resin flows more easily through the carbon
fibers as the temperature and pressure increases, wetting
the reinforcement in an irregular way. This behavior favors
the formation of regions with dry fibers and others rich in
resin, which facilitates the formation of voids.
According to the literature, polymer composites absorb
water quickly in the first weeks of hygrothermal condition-
ing and tend to reach the saturation equilibrium slowly
from the fifth week of test. The laminates with high void-
content levels absorbed more moisture.
Moisture absorption depends on the laminate geometry,
type of reinforcement, matrix material, fiber content, and
void content. However, the present results indicate that
the shape, size, and distribution of voids may also affect
the moisture absorption. These factors depend on the
material system and, possibly, on the void content.
Therefore, parameter K, which measures the volume frac-
tion stored in the voids, presents different values for the
material systems studied and may vary with void content.
697
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