Effect of Wet Environment on the Properties of Glass Fiber Reinforced Phenolic Composites (GFRP)

Abstract

Glass fiber reinforced phenolic composites (GFRP) are an advanced composite material with good processability, fatigue resistance, corrosion resistance and stability, and are widely used in the production of structural parts for aircraft and ships. Our research described in this article explores the performance changes of GFRP in different aging media with prolonged aging time using GFRP with different fiber/matrix ratios. The research results indicated that aging time had the most significant impact on the various properties of the composite materials among all variables. With the extension of aging time, the bending strength of our composite materials decreased significantly, with a maximum decrease of 33%. The water absorption rate gradually increased and tended to stabilize, but the thermal decomposition temperature remained at 300 °C, and the mass residual rate remained stable at around 61% with little change. As the content of GF was increased, the aging of the composite gradually slowed down, and the rate of decline in its bending strength gradually decreased. In addition, the influence of different aging media on the performance was also studied, and it was found that the presence of NaCl in artificial seawater could cause changes in the osmotic pressure at the interface of the composite materials and the sea water, thus exacerbating interface damage and affecting the material’s performance.