A nonlinear constitutive model of unidirectional natural fiber reinforced composites considering moisture absorption

Moisture absorption in natural fiber reinforced composites causes remarkable degradation of mechanical properties. A nonlinear constitutive model is proposed to study the effect of the water uptake on the mechanical properties of unidirectional natural fiber reinforced composites. Accompanying the water absorption in the composites, there are several irreversible thermodynamic processes such as fiber degradation and interface damage. The energy dissipation induced by these processes is described by an internal variable, and two degradation parameters representing interface damage and fiber degradation are introduced to reflect the modulus reduction of the composite. Particularly, the model is used to derive the evolution of elastic moduli influenced by the moisture absorption. The predictions from the present model show a good agreement with experiment results of sisal fiber unidirectional reinforced composites. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.