Impact of sea and tap water exposure on the durability of GFRP laminates

Environmental exposure has undesired impact on the mechanical and physical properties of composite materials. This paper studies the impact of sea and tap water exposure on the mechanical and physical characteristics of symmetric and anti-symmetric eight-layer glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) composite laminates. Three-point bending testing method and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were used in order to evaluate the mechanical and physical properties of the laminates. Results showed that symmetric laminates lost a total of 60% of the flexure stiffness and 55% when exposed to sea water and tap water environments, respectively, for 2000 h whereas, anti-symmetric samples lost 28% and 29.4% when exposed to the same environments respectively for 2000 h.