Effect of fiber surface modification on the lifetime of glass fiber reinforced polymerized cyclic butylene terephthalate composites in hygrothermal conditions

• Hygrothermal aging behavior of a new nano-silica modified composite is achieved.
• Addition of nano-silica successfully hinders water diffusing into the composites.
• Nano-silica modification effectively improves the lifetime of composites by 28%.
• Interface strength of the composites is enhanced by 14% after adding nano-silica.

Mechanical performances of polymerized cyclic butylene terephthalate (pCBT) matrix, glass fiber reinforced pCBT (GF/pCBT), and nano-silica modified glass fiber/pCBT composites (nano-GF/pCBT) in hygrothermal condition were investigated. All the materials were aged in hygrothermal environments for up to three months, and then their mechanical strength degeneration ratio (SDR) was calculated. To study the aging effect of temperature, specimens with and without nano-silica modification were tested in temperatures ranging from 298 to 500 K. Differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) test, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and fiber pull-out test were adopted to complement the experimental results. It is found that all the SDR-time curves follow the linear relationship in hygrothermal environment, while SDR-temperature curves follow a bilinear relationship due to the effect of glass transition temperature (Tg) of the matrix. Fibers modified by coating nano-silica on the surface could decrease SDR of the composites. This is due to the fact that the fillers on the fiber surface could resist the movement of pCBT molecular chain and diffusion of water molecules in aging conditions. The fiber pull-out test verifies that the interface strength between fiber and matrix is enhanced by the modification.

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