Paper number 1135

EVALUATION OF THE COEFFICIENTS OF MOISTURE EXPANSION USING TRANSIENT SIMULATED LAMINATES METHODOLOGY (TSL)

Takeshi Takatoya, Kimo Chung, Yi-Jui Wu, and James C. Seferis

Polymeric Composites Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering,
University of Washington, Box 351750, Seattle, WA 98195-1750, USA

Summary

In this study, Transient Simulated Laminates methodology(TSL) was demonstrated in order to evaluate hygrothermal environmental effects on the graphite/epoxy laminate. This method was based on the comparison between experimental results and numerical simulated results. In the theoretical part, the Rayleigh-Ritz method was extended to predict the shape of unsymmetric laminates [0/0/90/90]T in moist environments. In the experimental part, the curvature changes and the weight changes of the unsymmetric laminate were measured continuously during water absorption. This method was effective to understand the behavior of the laminate in the hygrothermal environments. It was found that there are discrepancies between experimental results and numerical results at the high moisture contents, specifically at the high water bath temperature during water absorption.

Keywords

moisture, temperature, environmental effects, unsymmetric laminate, potential energy method, graphite/epoxy, water absorption, thermal analysis.