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Synergistic Environmental Aging Of Glass Reinforced Polymer Composites, Tianyi Lu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Synergistic effects involved in the environmental degradation of Glass Reinforced Polymer (GRP) composites were examined and a novel synergistic aging model was proposed in this study. Six GRPs based on glass fibers with four different polymer resins and six pure polymer thermoplastic resins were exposed either individually or in combination to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, water condensation and elevated temperature for approximately 1000 h. The composites and polymers were monitored for weight changes as a function of time and their surfaces were examined after the tests using optical and scanning electron microscopes (SEM). Photodegradation of the polymer matrices was analyzed by …