Seawater ageing of low styrene emission resins for marine composites: Mechanical behaviour and nano-indentation studies

Polyester resins are widely employed for pleasure boat construction. In order to satisfy new environmental legislation on styrene emissions resin suppliers have proposed modified formulations, but these show lower failure strains under tensile loading. This paper examines the influence of wet ageing on mechanical properties of low styrene polyester, together with standard polyester and vinyl ester resins, and their glass reinforced composites. Results are presented from accelerated ageing in natural sea water for nine months, at temperatures of 20, 40 and 60 °C. Nano-indentation was used to study local changes in the resin after ageing. The diffusion kinetics of the low styrene emission resins and their composites are similar to those for standard polyester resins. The low styrene resins appear to lose strength more slowly than the standard resins but after nine months in seawater at 40 °C similar property losses are noted.