Effects of seawater immersion on a glass fibre reinforced bioepoxy mechanical properties and its application in the ship hull finite-element analysis

Abstract

Currently, there is a grown tendency to manufacture environmentally more sustainable composite structures. In this work, a glass fibre reinforced bioepoxy composite was manufactured and submerged in seawater between T = 17 $^{\circ}$ C and T = 24 $^{\circ}$ C for a bioactivity period of 6 months. Tensile and flexural tests were performed in order to characterize the new composite before and after seawater immersion. A drop of 20% in Young’s modulus and 9% in tensile strength were observed after immersion. The same trend was analysed in both the flexural modulus and flexural strength, with a fall of 18% and 6%, respectively. It is also remarkable a higher ductility of the specimen after seawater immersion due to a plasticization process by moisture absorption. Those results were confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. Given the mechanical behaviour of the new composite, an L = 6.26 m in length ship hull was designed. Structural analysis was conducted on the suitability and reliability of the composite by using ANSYS software. The simulations revealed the optimal structural performance of the new design even in the extreme sagging situation. To sum up, SuperSap^® bioepoxy resin is a suitable matrix to manufacture small glass fibre ship-hulls.

Keywords

Polymer matrix composite glass fibre reinforced bioepoxy material testing mechanical properties finite-element analysis,seawater

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