Hashim Ummu Raihanah, Jumahat Aidah, Jawaid Mohammad, Dungani Rudi, Alamery Salman
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam 40450, Selangor, Malaysia.
Institute for Infrastructure Engineering Sustainable and Management (IIESM), Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam 40450, Selangor, Malaysia.
Polymers (Basel). 2020 Nov 6;12(11):2621. doi: 10.3390/polym12112621.
This work aims to give insight on the effect of accelerated weathering, i.e., the combination of ultraviolet (UV) exposure and water spraying, on the visual and mechanical properties of basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) composites. The solvent exchange method, sonication and high shear milling technique were used to prepare the nanocomposite laminates. Three types of laminates were fabricated, i.e., unmodified BFRP, nanosilica modified BFRP and graphene nanoplatelet (GNP) modified BFRP composites with the total fiber loading of 45 wt.%. Glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) laminate was also prepared for performance comparison purposes between the natural and synthetic fibers. The laminates were exposed to UV with a total weathering condition of 504 h using a Quantum-UV accelerated weathering tester. The weathering condition cycle was set at 8 h 60 °C UV exposure and 4 h 50 °C condensation. The discoloration visual inspection on the tested specimen was observed under the optical microscope. The obtained results showed that the UV exposure and water absorption caused severe discoloration of the laminates due to photo-oxidation reaction. The effect of weathering conditions on tensile and flexural properties of unmodified BFRP composites indicated that the UV exposure and water absorption caused reduction by 12% in tensile strength and by 7% in flexural strength. It is also found that the reduction in tensile and flexural properties of nanomodified BFRP composites was smaller than the unmodified system. It concluded from this work, that the mineral based composites (i.e., BFRP) has high potential for structural applications owing to its better properties than synthetic based composites (i.e., GFRP).
本研究旨在深入了解加速老化（即紫外线照射和喷水相结合）对玄武岩纤维增强聚合物（BFRP）复合材料视觉和力学性能的影响。采用溶剂交换法、超声处理和高剪切研磨技术制备纳米复合层压板。制备了三种类型的层压板，即未改性BFRP、纳米二氧化硅改性BFRP和石墨烯纳米片（GNP）改性BFRP复合材料，纤维总含量为45 wt.%。还制备了玻璃纤维增强聚合物（GFRP）层压板，用于比较天然纤维和合成纤维之间的性能。使用量子紫外线加速老化试验箱将层压板暴露在紫外线下，总老化条件为504小时。老化条件循环设置为8小时60°C紫外线照射和4小时50°C冷凝。在光学显微镜下观察测试样品的变色情况。结果表明，紫外线照射和吸水由于光氧化反应导致层压板严重变色。老化条件对未改性BFRP复合材料拉伸和弯曲性能的影响表明，紫外线照射和吸水导致拉伸强度降低12%，弯曲强度降低7%。还发现，纳米改性BFRP复合材料的拉伸和弯曲性能下降幅度小于未改性体系。这项工作得出的结论是，矿物基复合材料（即BFRP）由于其性能优于合成基复合材料（即GFRP），在结构应用方面具有很高的潜力。
