Effect of relative humidity on mechanical properties of a woven thermoplastic composite for automotive application

Abstract The purpose of this work is to characterise the influence of moisture content in a woven glass fibre reinforced polyamide 6,6 composite. Two different stacking sequences are studied: [(0/90) 3 ] and [(±45) 3 ] as well as the neat PA6,6 matrix. Samples have been conditioned through three ways: either water immersed, left at ambient temperature and humidity or dried in 35 °C oven. A one dimensional Fick's law has been used to model the water uptake in immersed samples. The glass transition temperature is highly affected by the presence of water and has been measured using modulated DSC technique. Finally, the effects of water on these composite materials have been investigated through tensile tests instrumented with acoustic emission monitoring (AE). Mechanical properties are highly affected by the presence of water in the composite. This result is even more visible on [(±45) 3 ] sample because of the preferential loading of the matrix.