_&&&

PII: S1359-835X(96)00154-6

ELSEVIER

Composites Part A 28A (1997) 595-604

0 1997 Elsevier Science Limited
Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved
1359-835X/97/$17.00

Mechanical
properties and failure behaviour
of carbon fibre-reinforced
polymer
composites under the influence of moisture

R. Selzer

and K. Friedrich

Institute for Composite

Germany
(Received 29 February

Materials Ltd, University

of Kaiserslautern,

1996; revised 12 November

67663 Kaiserslautern,

1996)

The effect of moisture on the mechanical properties and the failure behaviour of fibre-reinforced polymer
composites was investigated. Moisture was introduced into the specimens by immersion in distilled water.
Three materials were investigated, which were all reinforced with continuous carbon fibres. Two thermosetting matrices (unmodified and toughness-modified epoxy) and one thermoplastic matrix (polyetheretherketone) were used. The results showed that the absorbed moisture decreases those properties of
both epoxy-based composites which were dominated by the matrix or the interface. The influence of
water on the fibre-dominated values, as well as on the properties of the thermoplastic material, was not
detectable. The distinct fall of the matrix- and interface-based values due to moisture can be ascribed to the
weakening of bonding between fibre and matrix and softening of the matrix material. 0 1997 Elsevier
Science Limited
(Keywords: mechanical properties;failure behaviour;carbon fibre-reinforcedpolymer composites; moisture)

INTRODUCTION
Composite materials in practical use can be subject to a
wide variety of different loading conditions. The most
important conditions are mechanical stresses and environmental attacks. To utilize the full potential of composite
materials, their behaviour under various conditions has
to be determined. The main environmental attacks are
related to temperature, moisture, radiation and/or contact
with various types of chemicals. These factors can affect
the thermal and mechanical properties of the composites
in different ways2>3. In particular, the effect of water must
always be taken into account, because moisture is always
present due to the humidity of the atmosphere.
Mechanical stresses occur during different types of
loading, such as tension, compression, and fatigue in
structural components. An issue of major concern in the
utilization of composites is associated with the occurrence of delaminations or interlaminar cracks, which
may be related to manufacturing defects or induced in
service by low velocity impact.
The purpose of this study was to examine the influence
of water absorption on the mechanical properties and
failure behaviour of carbon fibre-reinforced polymers.

*To whom correspondence should be addressed

Several investigations in the open literature verify that

moisture influences the properties of reinforced polymers, but such studies only look at some basic mechanical
properties. There is no publication which discusses the
influence of moisture on carbon fibre-reinforced polymer
composites in a very detailed way. The data generated in
this investigation could be used as a guideline for the
design of components from these materials under the
influence of moisture.

EXPERIMENTAL

PROCEDURES

Materials

Thermosetting and thermoplastic polymers have been

used as matrix systems in advanced composites. To cover
the whole spectrum of matrix materials and the wide
range of toughness involved, two epoxy resins as well as
one thermoplastic were investigated (Table 2 ).
The first matrix, denoted here by EP, was a first
generation epoxy, with a brittle fracture behaviour. The
second one was a modified epoxy with a higher strain to
failure and a higher fracture toughness (EP,&.
For
comparison, tests were done with carbon fibre-reinforced
polyetheretherketone
(PEEK). As a special feature the
laminates of this carbon fibre-reinforced PEEK were

595

Moisture

and mechanical

properties:

R. Seizer and K. Friedrich

Table 1 Properties of matrices used>*

Name and supplier

Type

P (g cm-3 )

E (GPa)

c (MPa)

E (%)

GIcResin

5208, BASF
5212, BASF
Victrex, ICI

Thermoset
Thermoset
Semicrystalline
thermoplastic

1.27
1.23
1.32 (crystalline)
1.26 (amorphous)

4.24
3.35
4.10

65
80
100

1.8
3.3
4.9 (yielding)
50 (fracture)

54
238
3072

Table 2

(J mm2 1

Pronerties of fibres used9

Name and supplier

Type

Diameter (pm)

P (g cmm3)

E (GPa)

0 (MPa)

E (%)

G30-500, Celion
AS4, Herkules

HT fibre
HT fibre

7
7

1.78
1.79

234
231

3800
4000

1.6
1.6

manufactured out of hybrid yarn. The polyetheretherketone used in this study had a crystallinity of -28%.
All panels made out of this material had the same
crystallinity. This fact was very important for the
mechanical tests, because the crystallinity of a material
has a significant influence on the properties and cannot
be neglected4.
Due to the fact that the properties of the fibres were
rather similar (Table 2), the same term, CF, was used to
denote all fibre types in this paper. Information about
fibre treatment for improved fibre-matrix adhesion was
not available. The average fibre volume fraction was
60% by volume, with a standard deviation of 1% for all
material systems studied. Both epoxy resins were reinforced with carbon fibre G30-500, and the thermoplastic
with AS4 fibre, respectively.
All test specimens were cut from unidirectional
([0]16,[90]&, bidirectional ([0, 9014,) and/or multidirectional ([0, f 45,90],,) panels which were manufactured
out of 16 prepreg plies and cured in an autoclave
according to the recommendations of the manufacturers.
For the specimens used for investigation of the interlaminar fracture properties, a foil was placed at the midthickness of the laminate. This foil prevented adhesion
between the two prepreg layers and had the same effect as
a delamination.

Conditioning

Dry and moisturized specimens were used in this

investigation. All specimens were preconditioned in an
oven at 77C until their weight loss had stabilized, and
no further weight loss could be observed. This condition
of the specimens was referred to as dry. After preconditioning, the specimens labelled dry were stored in a
dessicator and those labelled as wet were placed in
containers of distilled water at three different temperatures: 23, 70 and 100C. Immersing samples in water is
the worst possible moisture attack. Resting the specimens in humid air results in a lower maximum moisture
content1Y12. Specimens
were removed from the containers at various time intervals for weight measurements.
The effect of this removal on weight gain determination
had been shown to be negligible. Specimens were allowed

596

to co01 for a short period of time before being weighed.

In the case of specimens with moisture, the surfaces were
carefully wiped before weighing. The weight gain process
was continued until saturation of the materials. The
weight was measured with an analytical balance, and the
weight gain was calculated according to the following
equation:
Moisture content
=

weight of specimen - weight of dry specimen

weight of dry specimen
xl00 [%]

(1)

The weight gains, maximum moisture contents and

diffusivities of such materials during immersion in distilled water were reported and discussed in a previous
publication13.
Test procedures

The tensile, compression, fatigue and compressionafter-impact tests were performed according to the
standards listed in Table 3. For the mode I and mode
II tests the double cantilever beam (DCB) and the endnotched flexure (ENF) test configurations were used. A
detailed description of specimen geometry, test procedures and data reduction is given in ref. 14.
After various periods of time the specimens were
taken out of the baths and subjected to the mechanical
tests. The tests were performed at room temperature in a
laboratory air environment. The amount of moisture
desorbed during the span of testing was found to be
negligible. The specimens were tested in three different
states: dry, half-saturated and fully saturated.

Table 3 Tests, standards and recorded properties

Test

Standard

Value

Tensile
Compression
Fatigue
Compression after
impact
Mode I
Mode II

DIN
DIN
DIN
DIN

Strength, modulus, elongation

Strength, modulus
Fatigue strength
Damage resistance
Damage tolerance
Energy release rate, GI,
Energy release rate, Gnc

EGF
EGF

29971
65380
50100
65561

Moisture and mechanical

Microscopic studies

All specimens tested were examined visually and with

the aid of optical microscopes. Cracks, delaminations
and other failure mechanisms which occurred during
testing were recorded and plotted in failure maps.

properties:

R. Selzer and K. Friedrich

superglue was sufficient (Uhu, Sekundenkleber). But for

the unidirectional [O],, laminates a special and very
expensive DMS adhesive (HBM 270, Schnellkleber) was
used, which had a curing time of -15 min. During this
period of time no moisture desorption was measured.
Tensile tests

RESULTS
Glass transition temperature

The range of use of composite materials with a

polymeric matrix is limited by their thermal and
mechanical properties. Polymer composites used above
their glass transition temperature Tg show a substantial
loss in desired physical properties; therefore a materials
glass transition temperature and its change with moisture
absorption must be investigated. In this case Tg was
measured as the maximum damping in the damping
versus temperature diagram. The results are presented in
Table 4.

Due to moisture absorption the glass transition

temperature of the resin became low, which in turn
degraded the high temperature properties of the resins.
Nevertheless, Tg did not go below the maximum water
temperature of 100C. The glass transition temperature
of CFjPEEK was not affected by the absorbed water.
One reason for this behaviour could be the fact that CF/
PEEK absorbed only 0.3 wt% moisture (cf. CF/EP,
1.6wt% and CF/EPmod, 2.5wt%).

To characterize the material behaviour under tension

the strength, modulus and elongation were recorded
during testing. In the diagrams that follow the results are
shown versus the relative moisture content, which was
defined as absolute moisture content Am [calculated
according to equation (l)] in relation to the maximum
moisture content A mmax. So 0 means dry, 0.5, halfsaturation, and 1 stands for fully saturated.
It appeared from Figure 1 that the tensile strength was
not affected by the moisture for specimens with a fibre
orientation in the direction of the load. The variation of
the mean values was smaller than the scatter. So the
influence of moisture for this fibre orientation was
negligible. Due to the fact that the properties of the
carbon fibres were equal, the results for the 0 tensile
tests of the different composites were similar.
Specimens with a fibre orientation perpendicular to

3ooo
2500
z

Testing problems

In order to protect specimens from damage during

clamping in the testing jig and to obtain a symmetrical
stress distribution in the samples without any stress
peaks, tabs were bonded on the specimen surface. One
problem was that it was not possible to glue the tabs on
to the specimens before immersing them, because the
quality of the glue interface between the tab and specimen decreased as a consequence of moisture attack; this
caused layer failure before the specimen maximum load
was reached. Therefore, it was necessary to bond the tabs
on to the specimens after resting in water.
Many adhesives require a long cure time and/or a high
temperature to reach their maximum strength. Both
procedures lead to inadmissible drying of the specimens.
To fix the tabs on the specimens without moisture
desorption of the samples, a special kind of glue was
needed: instant superglue. For testing laminates with
stacking sequences of [90116and [0, 901dsa normal instant

Table 4 Influence
materials tested

of moisture

on glass

Material

7s, dry condition

(C)

CF/EP

258
197
169

CF/EP,,,
CFjPEEK

transition

temperature

rs, wet condition

220
120
169

2000

S
F

1500

g
UJ
Q)

.G

1000

e
c

500

01
0.0

0.2

I
I
- - q CF/EP
---muo CFlEPmod )-A
CF/PEEK 1 1
1
I
I
.
I
I

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

0.6

1.0

Relative Moisture Content

Figure 1

Tensile strength

of 0 laminates

100

of

(C)

0
0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

Relative Moisture Content

Figure 2

Tensile strength

of 90 laminates

597

Moisture

and mechanical

properties:

R. Seizer and K. Friedrich

0
0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.0

1.0

0.0

Relative Moisture Content

Figure 3

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

Relative Moisture Content

Tensile modulus of 0 laminates

Figure 5

Elongation of 0 laminates

290
1-5

10

CR

l,o

iii

01
0.0

0.2

0.4

050

J
0.6

0.8

0,5

1.0

0.0

Relative Moisture Content

Figure 4

Tensile modulus of 90 laminates

the load direction showed different behaviour (Figure 2).

The more the specimens took up moisture, the more the
mean values of fracture strength decreased. The data
show a reduction of 52 and 66% in strength for the
saturated condition compared to the dry condition for
CF/EP and CF/EP,,d, respectively. It was indicated by
these results that the more the tensile strength values
depend on the matrix and the interface, the stronger the
influence of moisture absorption was.
Figures 3 and 4 showed that the curves of the tensile
moduli had the same trends as those of the tensile
strength. The decrease of the 90 tension modulus was a
result of softening of the epoxy matrices due to moisture
absorption, because the modulus was calculated from a
range of the strength-elongation curve where no fracture
occurred.
The elongation values of the 90 laminates showed a
decrease with increasing moisture content. The reason
for this behaviour was not the softening of the epoxy
matrices, but weakening of the fibre-matrix interface.
Softening of the resins with increasing moisture content
would lead to higher elongations.
It was mentioned above that the specimens were
conditioned at three different temperatures. Nevertheless, it was not possible to detect an influence of the

598

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

Relative Moisture Content

Figure 6

Elongation of 90 laminates

temperatures used on the mechanical properties. This is

due to the fact that Tg did not go below the maximum
water temperature of 100C.
Compression tests
To examine the influence of the stacking sequence,
tests were conducted for each material combination with
unidirectional laminates loaded in the fibre direction [0]
as well as in the direction transverse [90] to the fibres. The
results of the compression tests are shown in Figures
7-10.
Figure 7 showed that the strength of 0 epoxy-based
laminates was affected by the absorbed water. The
moisture reduced the compressive strength of the two
epoxy composites; -23 and 35% for CF/EP and CF/
respectively. For laminates with a [90] lay-up
~!$$L 8) the reduction was greater; 30% for CF/EP and
37% for CF/EP,,d. It was indicated by these results that
the more the compressive strength depends on the
matrix, the stronger the influence of moisture absorption
was.
It appeared from Figure 9 that the stiffness was not
affected by the moisture for specimens with a fibre orientation in the loading direction. As the variation of the

Moisture

H.....

500

j-A
0.0

,CI

CF/EP

CF/PEEK

,
0.4

0.2

0.6

0.8

1.0

0.0

.
0.2

1
0.4

.
0.6

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

Relative Moisture Content

Compression strength of 0 laminates

0.0

R. Seizer and K. Friedrich

Relative Moisture Content

Figure 7

properties:

o CF/EPmod 1-1

and mechanical

0.0

Figure 10

Compression modulus of 90 laminates

Figure 11

Fatigue behaviour of dry materials, lay-up [0,+45,90]2s

]
1.0

Relative Moisture Content

Figure 8

Compression strength of 90 laminates

150

compression tests performed on carbon fibre-reinforced

polyetheretherketone,
no moisture effects on stiffness
and strength of the laminates were detected. This could
be explained by the low maximum moisture content of
the PEEK matrix, and the excellent hot/wet properties of
this matrix material.

100

Fatigue tests

50

---mmo CF/EPmod
-A

CF/PEEK

0
0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.0

1.0

Relative Moisture Content

Figure 9

Compression modulus of 0 laminates

mean values was smaller than the scatter, the influence of

moisture for this fibre orientation was negligible. Specimens with a fibre orientation perpendicular to the load
direction and an epoxy matrix showed different behaviour (Figure ZO). The more the specimens took up
moisture, the more the stiffness decreased. The data
showed a reduction of 42 and 36% in stiffness for the
saturated condition when compared to the dry condition,
for CF/EP and CF/EP,,d, respectively. Regarding the

The fatigue behaviour of the materials in dry and wet

conditions were demonstrated in Wohler curves (Figures
I1 and 12). The fatigue tests were carried out on a
Schenck servohydraulic testing machine with a force
capacity in the range of l-250 kN. The ratio R between
minimum and maximum dynamic load was chosen as
R = 0.1, while the frequency was 10 Hz. The fatiguetested specimens that did not fail within the maximum of
2 x lo6 cycles are shown by arrows.
The courses of the Wijhler curves were very flat. This
fact was a result of the good fatigue behaviour of carbon
fibres. Because this type of fibre does not fatigue, the
effect of moisture on carbon fibre-reinforced polymers
with high fibre contents is negligible15. Another result of
this investigation was that the curves for polymer
composites do not flatten out like the curves for steel,

599

Moisture

and mechanical

properties:

R. Selzer and K. Friedrich

l
l

lo4
lo5
Cycles
Figure 12 Fatigue behaviour
LO,54% 9%

of fully saturated materials, lay-up

2m1500

1000

CF/PEEK was not affected by moisture;

the CF/epoxies had larger damage areas when moisture was absorbed;
the measurements of the damage areas showed a large
scatter.

Figure 13 demonstrates
that CFjPEEK was the
system with the highest damage resistance, followed by
CF/EP,,d. CF/EP, as a very brittle system, had the
lowest damage resistance of the three materials compared. Wet laminates behaved in the same manner.
The results of the compression tests on specimens with
damage can be concluded as follows. The compression
strength values of the wet CF/epoxies were lower than
those of the dry ones (Figures 14 and 15). Undamaged
wet specimens of CF/EP showed values which were 17%
lower than for dry samples. For CF/EPmod this effect
was in the same range (16%). Specimens which were
impacted with an energy of 6 Jmm- showed larger
differences (CF/EP, 52% and CF/EP,,d, 26%).
The difference between dry and wet specimens cannot
be explained purely by the larger damage area due to the
moisture absorbed. The main effect was the moisture
itself, because the undamaged specimens showed lower

Figure 13 Damaged areas after impacts with varying energies

because polymers do not show a strengthening effect

during the fatigue test. The moisture absorbed resulted in
a decrease of the numbers of cycles to failure for both
epoxy-based composites. A reduction of 15% for CF/
EP,,d and 7% for CF/EP was found. The influence of
moisture on CF/PEEK was negligible.

01

Impact Energy [J/mm]

Figure 14 Compression strength of CF/EP after impacts with varying
energies

Compression after impact

The principle of this method is to subject a laminate,

here [0, 9014,,to impacts of varying energy, then measure
the area of the local failure with an ultrasonic device. The
smaller the area of delamination, the higher the resistance of the system against damage was (damage
resistance). Then the laminates were tested under compression in a special testing jig. The maximum compression strength of the specimens was measured and
considered in relation to the damaged area. The higher
the failure strength of the specimens with damage was,
the higher the tolerance of the system against delaminations or cracks was (damage tolerance).
The results of the tests showed:
l

higher impact energies led to larger damage areas

(Figure 13);

600

Figure 15 Compression
varying energies

4
2
impact Energy [J/mm]
strength of CF/EP,d

after impacts with

Moisture and mechanical

properties:

R. Seizer and K. Friedrich

values too. Water softened the matrix resins and so the

stiffness of the epoxies was reduced. As a result of this, it
was easier for the fibres to kink and the laminate failed at
lower stresses. The differences in compression strength
between dry and wet CFjPEEK specimens were negligible (Figure 16).
Mode I fracture behaviour

During the testing procedure a strong difference

between the dry and wet specimens can be observed13.
The variations of the GIc values of CF/epoxy as a
function of moisture content and temperature are shown
in Figures 17 and 18. Mode I values of CF/EPmOd are
much higher than those of CF/EP. However, the
toughness of CF/EP increased with increasing moisture
content more than in the case of the modified epoxy. The
curves of the GIc values of the CF/EPmOd specimens
plotted against the moisture content exhibited unusual
behaviour. It can be seen that the half-saturated specimens showed an 8% decrease in fracture toughness
values. This behaviour was explained and discussed in
ref. 13. The toughness values for the CF/EP increase with
increasing moisture over the entire range of saturation

100C

0.0
0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

1.0

wsus

moisture

0.6

1.0

0.6

Relative Moisture Content

Figure 18
content

Results

of mode

0.0

0.2

I tests

0.4

of CF/EP,,,d

0.6

Relative Moisture Content

Figure 19
content

Impact Energy [J/mm]

Figure 16 Compression
varying energies

strength

of CFjPEEK

after

impacts

with

Results

of mode

I tests

of CF/PEEK

versus moisture

(to a maximum increase of -64%, with a scatter of

6%). The temperature at which the specimens were
soaked was found to have no influence on the fracture
toughness.
Mode I tests carried out on CFjPEEK showed that
the properties of this material were neither affected by
the moisture content nor by the temperature at which the
specimens were immersed (Figure 19). The Grc value for
CF/PEEK was always in the region of 1.8 kJ m-.
Mode II fracture behaviour

Relative Moisture Content

Figure 17

Results of mode I tests of CF/EP

W~SUSmoisture

content

The mode II fracture toughnesses GIIc for the

materials tested is given in Figures 20-22 as a function
of moisture content. For the three materials, the GIIc
values decreased with increasing moisture content. The
decrease for the saturated specimens was about 15% on
average, compared to the values of the dry specimens, for
CF/EP,,d and 7% for CF/EP.
The decrease of the Gnc values was caused by two
effects. First, the fibre-matrix bonding became poor with
increasing moisture content. The effect can be observed
in SEM photographs of dry and saturated specimens.
Fracture surfaces of dry specimens show extensive

601

Moisture and mechanical

properties:

R. Seizer and K. Friedrich

PEEK was not affected by moisture, which can be

explained by the low maximum moisture content of the
PEEK matrix.

DISCUSSION
Correlation between static andfatigue behaviour

0.0

0.4

0.2

0.6

0.8

1.0

Relative Moisture Content

Results of mode II tests of CF/EP

Figure 20

versus

moisture content

._

0.2 -

!!?C

h
0

100C

0.0

Matrix properties and damage resistance

70C

I
0.0

0.2

.
0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

Relative Moisture Content

Figure 21

Results

On the one hand, the CFjPEEK composite had good

static properties, but on the other hand it showed lower
fatigue strength values than the epoxy-based composites.
The discovery that a tough material shows lower fatigue
properties than expected from its static properties was
also reported in refs 16 and 17. This effect can be
explained by the different failure behaviour of tough and
brittle materials. Brittle materials show a lot of delaminations and interlaminar cracking during fatigue. In CF/
PEEK there were almost no delaminations or cracks.
The failure of this material was determined by a localization of failure. This means that in composites with a
very tough matrix and very good fibre-matrix adhesion,
multiple cracking, which absorbs a higher amount of
energy, is prevented, so that finally localized failure
occurs at lower levels than expected.

of mode II tests of CF/EP,,d

versus moisture

content

The damage resistance expresses the ability of a

system to resist an impact and is a very important
property of laminated composites. It is well known that
the damage resistance of a composite is dominated by the
matrix material. Therefore the following conclusions can
be drawn:

1) The higher the tensile strength of the matrix is, the

A
AP

00

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

Relative Moisture Content

Figure 22

Results

of mode II tests of CFjPEEK

versus

moisture

content

hackling, whereas the saturated specimens show less

hackling and a lot of bare fibres. The large zones of bare
fibres with few hackles point to the conclusion that the
interfaces have failed and the fibres have moved without
deforming the matrix. Secondly, to create hackles, less
work was needed because the matrix has become soft
through moisture absorbtion. The GIIc value of CF/

602

higher the damage resistance becomes. The tensile

strength increased from EP (65 MPa) and EP,,d
(80 MPa) to PEEK (100 MPa), and the damaged area
decreased in this order.
2) The higher the elongation at fracture of the matrix is,
the lower the impact damage becomes. The elongation values increased from EP (1.8%) and EP,,d
(3.3%) to PEEK (4.9%), and the damaged area
decreased in this order.
3) The higher the mode II fracture toughness is, the
higher the damage resistance of the composite. The
mode II fracture toughness increased from CF/EP
(0.40 kJmp2) and CF/EPmti (0.64kJme2) to CF/
PEEK (3.5 kJ m-), and the damaged area decreased
in this order.
It can be concluded that the matrix properties have a
great influence on the damage resistance, but it was not
possible to find out which of these properties was the
dominant one.
CAI and interlaminar fracture

In a simplified way, an impact test can locally result in

multiple shear loading (Figure 2.3) of the specimen.
Furthermore, compression tests with delaminated samples

Moisture

2. Compression

1. Impact

and mechanical

properties:

R. Seizer and K. Friedrich

pression modulus of the carbon fibre-reinforced

mers was lower.

poly-

Failure maps

Figure 23

Compression

after impact

test

are very similar to mode I or mode II tests (Figure 23).

Therefore, the investigation of correlations between the
very expensive CA1 test and the much cheaper interlaminar fracture mode I or mode II tests might be of
interest.
A correlation between the interlaminar mode II
fracture toughness and the damaged area after impact
showed that the higher the toughness, the smaller the
damaged area was. For this reason, tough systems are
better for components for which impact loadings are
expected.
Comparing the results of the mode I tests with those
of the residual strength, it was noticeable that the
residual strength decreased with increasing moisture
content, whereas the mode I values exhibited an increase.
Furthermore, the residual strength of CF/EP was higher
than that of CF/EP,,d, although the mode I fracture
toughness of CF/EPmod was higher. From the results of
these investigations, it was not possible to find a correlation between mode I fracture toughness and residual
strength of a delaminated component.
The increase of the residual strength of the wet
materials was confirmed with the assumption that the
residual strength depends on the mode II fracture toughness. The values were 400 J me2 for CF/EP, 640 J rnp2 for
CF/EPmod and 3500 J m-2 for CF/PEEK, respectively.
But the results for the dry laminates contradicted this
assumption. The residual strength of the dry CF/EPmod
laminates was lower than that for the rest of the dry CF/
EP laminates. A dependence between these properties
cannot therefore be confirmed.

Tensile and compression modulus

In general the tensile and the compression moduli

of a material are almost equal, because both values are
measured in the linear-elastic range of the material.
Comparing the results of this investigation it could be
observed that for all materials the compression modulus
was lower than the tensile modulus. The reason for this
behaviour was that the high stiffness of the carbon fibres
was fully transferred to the composite when the specimen
was loaded in tension. In the compression tests the fibres
tended to kink or bend under load, so that the com-

To create failure maps a multidirectional lay-up was

tested under static and dynamic tension. The multidirectional lay-up was used to generate all failure
mechanisms which can occur in and between layers of
different orientations. Due to the fact that in static
tension failure mechanisms occur just before catastrophic failure, failure maps were generated with the
results of the fatigue tests. From these maps the maximum load for safe design can be defined for components
under mechanical load and under the influence of
moisture.
One result of this investigation was that there are no
cracks or delaminations in CFjPEEK specimens before
fracture. The failure maps for both CF/epoxies are
presented in Figures 24 and 25. Concluding the results of
the maps, it can be pointed out that moisture reduced the
stress level of the first appearance of a particular failure
mechanism. The greater the toughness of the matrix
material was, the higher the level when the failure

Total Failure

Growth of Cracks and Delaminationa

3

Damage Free
c.
0

Relative Moisture Content

Figure 24

Failure

map for material

CF/EP

400.
Growth of Cracks and Delamlnations

z
5
F

300.

Defaminations

;
v)
J
S
z
LL

loo-

Damage Free

Relative Moisture Content

Figure 25

Failure

map for material

CFIEP,,,

603

Moisture

and mechanical

properties:

R. Seizer and K. Friedrich

Boundaryof the Crack Development

t
Boundaryoi the Delamination
Development

Figure 26

Results of investigations of failure behaviour

mechanisms occurred. These statements are summarized

in the scheme shown in Figure 26.

thanks are due to BASF, Ludwigshafen, for the supply

of the testing materials. Additional travel grants from
BMBF International Buro for research collaboration on
environmental effects on properties of composites with
Professor Vu Khanh, Canada (Project No. 753) are gratefully acknowledged. Professor Friedrich finally thanks
the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie, Frankfurt, for support of his personal research activities in 1996.

REFERENCES
1

CONCLUSIONS
This investigation deals with the effect of moisture on the
mechanical properties and the failure behaviour of
carbon fibre-reinforced polymer composites. Three composite materials were investigated: two with thermosetting matrices (unmodified and toughness-modified
epoxy, EP and EP,,d) and one with a thermoplastic
matrix (polyetheretherketone,
PEEK). Samples of these
materials were exposed to water in baths of different
temperatures. The properties of the epoxy-based composites were influenced by the absorbed moisture only in
specimens in which fibres were orientated perpendicular
to the load direction. Examinations of the fracture surfaces of the carbon fibre/epoxy composites showed that
the moisture led to an increase in interface failure. The
epoxy matrix becomes softer with moisture absorption,
and the fibre-matrix adhesion poorer. The values for
CFjPEEK were not affected by moisture, which can be
explained by the low maximum moisture uptake of the
PEEK matrix.
The specimens were conditioned at three different
temperatures. It was found that the water temperature
had no influence on the mechanical properties of the
materials used. The reason for this behaviour is that the
glass transition temperature did not go below the maximum water temperature of 100C.
Furthermore, this examination showed that the properties of the composites are not dependent on the
duration of exposure after the specimens were fully
saturated. The maximum duration of exposure was three
years in water at room temperature and more than one
year in boiling water. Nevertheless, it could be possible
that there are further changes in properties on extended
exposure.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors acknowledge the support in the field of
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604

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