Influence of Textile Structure on the Hygroscopic Behavior of Bamboo Textile-Reinforced Polymer

ABSTRACT

Although bamboo fiber-reinforced polymer has been extensively studied, its utilization has been limited by its unfavorable performance. This study developed a non twisting bamboo textile-reinforced polymer (BTRP) through vacuum resin transfer molding and then used two weaving methods, different layers, different edge treatments, two stacking sequences, and two sizes as factors to investigate the effect of woven structures on the hygroscopic behavior of BTRP, such as water absorption, diffusion, dimensional stability, and moisture transportation. The differences in the results of long-term immersion and the swelling at different locations of BTRP were also examined. The results of this study indicate that the weaving method directly affected the water absorption from the fiber area and that the size of the specimens affected the saturation rate. The swelling behavior differed with the weaving method and number of layers, which indicates that rate of water ingress and transverse fiber swelling were the reasons that cause the different swelling behavior. This study found that moisture may be transferred differently through different parts of BTRP due to variations in fiber saturation. Moreover, the analysis of the center and periphery of BTRP specimens indicated that textile structure significantly affected water uptake and indirectly caused two moisture transport mechanisms.

摘要

竹纖維加固樹脂複合材料已有大量研究, 然而實際應用卻仍受到許多限制。本研究開發了一種以真空樹脂轉注成形法製作的非纏繞竹纖維織物加固複合材料 (bamboo textile-reinforced polymer,BTRP)。以不同編織方法, 疊層數, 邊界處理, 試片尺寸與疊層方式等變因, 探究編織結構對BTRP材料之水分相關行為如:吸水, 擴散, 膨潤與水分傳遞路徑的影響。此外, 亦討論材料內不同位置的水分膨潤程度, 並觀察長時間浸水的表現。結果顯示, 編織方法呈現不同竹纖維束斷面, 進而顯著影響BTRP吸收水分的行為, 而試片尺寸則影響BTRP到達飽和含水量的速率。BTRP膨潤程度隨編織方法與疊層數有異, 表示水分進入材料體的速率以及竹材垂直纖維方向的膨潤率為BTRP材料變形的主因。本研究的另一重要發現在於, 在BTRP材料體中可能因水分飽和程度變化而改變水分傳遞的方式。最後, 藉由觀測試片邊緣與中心膨潤程度可推論出因編織結構導致水分吸收行為不同, 間接形成兩種不同水分傳遞機制。

KEYWORDS:

• Bamboo fiber
• fiber-reinforced polymer
• textile structure
• hygroscopic behavior
• fickian diffusion
• composite materials

Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the “Advanced Research Center for Green Materials Science and Technology” from The Featured Area Research Center Program within the framework of the Higher Education Sprout Project by the Ministry of Education (111L9006) and the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (MOST 111-2634-F-002-016; 110-2313-B-002-044).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan [110-2313-B-002-044,111-2634-F-002-016]; Ministry of Education, Taiwan [111L9006].