Accelerated ageing of a Pultruded frp Composites Pa6/gf
Résumé
Nowadays, mobility is experiencing numerous transformations driven by the need to reduce
carbon footprint. The INFRAlight project aims to develop an environmentally friendly composite
railway infrastructure to reduce the carbon footprint in economic development. Rails are subjected to
severe natural and mechanical weather conditions such as temperature variations, relative humidity, UV
radiation. Therefore, the study of durability under severe service conditions is essential to the industrial
exploitation of these materials. One of the materials considered for this application is a pultruded fibrereinforced
plastic (FRP) made of polyamide 6 (PA6) and glass fibres (GF). Literature shows that the
durability of pultruded composite materials is still an understudied topic. However, several studies have
shown that PA6 polymers are sensitive to moisture, leading to changes in their physicochemical
properties and a decrease in their mechanical properties. In this study, accelerated hygrothermal ageing
at 70 °C and 80 %RH was applied to the PA6/GF pultruded composites. The results show a decrease in
mechanical properties during water absorption, followed by a recovery upon drying, highlighting the
reversibility of the ageing process.Viscoelastic characterisation from vibration analysis complement
these results to understand the effect of moisture on the material.