Durability study of a ramie-fiber reinforced phenolic composite subjected to water immersion

In the present paper, ramie fiber reinforced polymer (RFRP) plates prepared by hot compression process were subjected to water immersion at 20 oC and 40 oC for four weeks, and the variation of water uptake and mechanical properties with immersion time were investigated. It was found that the saturated water content and the coefficient of diffusion in RFRP were much higher than those in synthetic fiber based composites, due to the strong hydrophilic characteristic of the ramie fiber. After fully drying of the immersed samples, mass loss from 1.6 % to 3.6 % was found, indicating occurrence of a serious hydrolysis of the resin and the ramie fibers. After a short term of immersion (i.e., 1 day), RFRP showed a remarkable deterioration in the flexural and short beam shear properties. Further increase of the immersion time, the degradation rate of the mechanical properties was much reduced. After fully drying, the mechanical properties of the samples can be recovered to some extent, but still much less than the original values. The variation of mechanical property as a function of the water uptake content exhibits three stages (i.e., dramatic reduction, leveling off and quick decrease again). This may be due to the sequent occurrence of the degradation of natural fibers, fiber debonding and hydrolysis of the fiber and resin during immersion.