Long-term Immersion in Water of Flax-glass Fibre Hybrid Composites: Effect of Stacking Sequence on the Mechanical and Damping Properties

The hybrid solution of natural-synthetic fibres can be an effective option to enhance the moisture resistance of natural fibre reinforced polymer composites. This work aims at studying the effect of long-term water immersion of hybrid composites on their mechanical and damping properties. These properties were investigated using free vibrations from samples composed of quasi-unidirectional flax and glass layers and epoxy resin. The results showed that the saturation mass uptake and the diffusion coefficient of the composites were strongly dependent on the stacking sequence between the flax and glass layers. For instance, less than 25 days were necessary to reach the water saturation when flax fibre reinforcements were in the outer layers, whereas it took over 10 months when these reinforcements were in the inner layers. Compared to the flax fibre reinforced composite, the flax-glass hybrid laminate with two inner flax layers and two outer glass layers was the most efficient for a specification where damping and bending modulus are the main criteria. This one enabled a significant increase in bending and specific bending moduli (+38 % and +79 % respectively compared to the unaged flax laminate), a considerable slowing down of the diffusion phenomenon, while limiting the decrease in damping property with ageing (−20 %).