Water Absorption and Thickness Swelling Behaviour of Woven Roselle Fibre Epoxy Composites

Abstract

The effect of roselle fabric weave pattern on water absorption and thickness swelling behaviour of woven roselle fibre composites has been investigated. Roselle fabrics with various weaving design such as plain, twill, satin and basket are used in this study. All composites are produced using hand layup process. The water absorption and thickness swelling behaviour of all composites are studied as per ASTM standards. The test samples were immersed in distilled water at room temperature and change in weight and thickness of the test samples recorded at every 24 hour time interval. For all composite samples, saturation in water absorption and thickness swelling was observed after 264 hours of water immersion. Result revealed that the plain-woven composite yields higher resistance to water absorption and thickness swelling than other types of composites.