Effects of Arbitrarily Shaped Fibers on Moisture Diffusion Coefficients of Polymeric Composites

Abstract

In an earlier investigation [2], the effects of the regular fiber shapes (circu lar and elliptical) on the diffusion coefficients of the polymeric composites have been stud ied. There exist several types of reinforcing fibers, e.g., PAN, rayon, pitch precursor based carbon fibers, which may have completely arbitrary and unsymmetrical shapes. All regular fiber shapes are generated by the standard equations. But for irregular shapes, no such governing equations are available. In this investigation, these irregular shapes are generated using the cubic spline theory. The diffusion coefficients are then evaluated for single fiber composite models, reinforced with impermeable fibers of irregular shapes and having different fiber volume fractions. The shapes are found to influence the results con siderably.