Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Composite materials – Moisture'

Carbon/epoxy laminates are receiving greater attention by the infrastructure, marine, and offshore oil industries due to the need for superior performance capabilities. Such applications generally involve subjecting materials to harsh temperature and moisture conditions. The objective of this study was to provide a greater understanding of how temperature and moisture affect the strength and fatigue behavior of carbon/epoxy composites and the issues involved in modeling these effects. Results from thermal analysis and quasi-static testing on neat resin and unidirectional laminates as a function of temperature and moisture are presented which provide insight into how material properties vary with temperature and moisture and form the inputs necessary to evaluate composite strength and damage models. Fatigue life and damage accumulation testing results provide further insight into the effects of temperature and moisture and also provide a means for model validation. Generally, composite strength was found to be compromised by temperature but enhanced with moisture, while fatigue life was reduced by both temperature and moisture. Crack density with fatigue cycles was found to decrease with temperature but increase for immersed fatigue. Testing also revealed discrepancies between the edge replication and radiography methods for determining crack density. The analytical phase of the work considered a composite strength model and a damage evolution model to predict crack density. The composite strength model was found to provide an accurate dry, room temperature prediction which could be extended to an accurate prediction of wet specimen strength, but the results at elevated temperature fell conservative. The validation of the damage model proved inconclusive as it was found that the results are very sensitive to quantities such as thermal residual stresses and first ply failure. Currently, no reliable methods are available in the literature to determine these values accurately. However, the model was able to predict the decrease in crack density at elevated temperatures. The increase in crack density for immersed fatigue was not predicted. Overall, the study revealed that a more basic understanding of "in-situ" ply properties are needed before one can consider the use of predictive models in practical applications, especially in varying environments.
Ph. D.

Moisture diffusion studies were performed using unidirectional (UD) tape and quasiisotropic (QI) woven 5-harness satin fabric, carbon fibre reinforced (CFR) epoxy composite materials. Firstly the moisture constants, (i.e. diffusion coefficient, D[x], and equilibrium moisture content, M[max]) were experimentally derived at 70°C and 85% relative humidity (%RH), for the two CFR materials. To investigate moisture absorption as a function of %RH test coupons were conditioned to differing equilibrium moisture levels viz., 70°C/60%RH, 70°C/75%RH, 70°C/85%RH, and 70°C/95%RH. Also oven dry (OD) and as-received (AR) tests were performed for baseline comparison. The effect of moisture absorption on the mechanical behaviour was investigated; lamina properties were studied by measuring tension, compression, shear (inter/intralaminar) strength and stiffness of the UD material. This comprehensive set of testing provided quantitative relationships between moisture content and mechanical properties. The quasi-isotropic lay-up was then utilised to investigate multi-directional laminate lay-ups using open hole tension and compression testing. The experimental data showed that the uptake of moisture in both the materials studied was described well by Fick's Second Law and the properties most affected by moisture ingress were matrix-dominated properties. More specifically, the transverse tensile strength, F[t][2] was most affected by the ingress of moisture, with a near 50% reduction in strength when conditioned to equilibrium moisture content at 70°C/95%RH. Such information is a necessary prerequisite if improved design procedures are going to be developed in the future. The initial phase of testing produced mechanical property/moisture relationships that were employed to predict the strength and stiffness of the material containing specific moisture gradients through-the-thickness (TTT). To be able to predict mechanical properties with different moisture distribution, firstly moisture distribution TTT of the material was modelled using an analytical solution to Fick's Second Law. Then moisture content was considered on a ply-by-ply basis TTT of the laminate; reductions were applied to each individual ply property dependent on the moisture content using the experimentally derived relationships, essentially applying environmental knock-down factors (KEKDF'S) to each individual ply. Classical Laminate Analysis (CLA) was then performed using the Max Stress failure criteria in order to predict the overall laminate failure. A second phase of mechanical testing was then performed to validate these predictions. The mechanical property predictions compared well to the experimental data showing similar reductions in strength for a given profile of moisture in the laminate. The predicted strengths also fell within the measured standard deviation of the experimental data in a significant proportion of the results.

A two-dimensional finite-element computational procedure is developed for the accurate analysis of the strains and stresses in adhesively bonded joints. The large displacements and rotations experienced by the adherends and the adhesive are taken into account by invoking the updated Lagrangian description of motion. The adhesive layer is modeled using Schapery's nonlinear single integral constitutive law for uniaxial and multiaxial states of stress. Effect of temperature and stress level on the viscoelastic response is taken into account by a nonlinear shift factor definition. Penetrant sorption is accounted for by a nonlinear Fickean diffusion model in which the diffusion coefficient is dependent on the penetrant concentration and the dilatational strain. A delayed failure criterion based on the Reiner-Weisenberg failure theory has also been implemented in the finite element code. The applicability of the proposed models is demonstrated by several numerical examples.
Doctor of Philosophy

Advanced composite materials have enabled the conventional aircraft structures to reduce weight, improve fuel efficiency and offer superior mechanical properties. In the past, materials such as aluminum, steel or titanium have been used to manufacture aircraft structures for support of heavy loads. Within the last decade or so, demand for advanced composite materials have been emerging that offer significant advantages over the traditional metallic materials. Of particular interest in the recent years, there has been an upsurge in scientific significance in the usage of adhesively bonded composite joints (ABCJ’s). ABCJ’s negate the introduction of stress risers that are associated with riveting or other classical techniques. In today’s aircraft transportation market, there is a push to increase structural efficiency by promoting adhesive bonding to primary joining of aircraft structures. This research is focused on the issues associated with the durability and related failures in bonded composite joints that continue to be a critical hindrance to the universal acceptance of ABCJ’s. Of particular interest are the short term strength, contamination and long term durability of ABCJ’s. One of the factors that influence bond performance is contamination and in this study the influence of contamination on composite-adhesive bond quality was investigated through the development of a repeatable and scalable surface contamination procedure. Results showed an increase in the contaminant coverage area decreases the overall bond strength significantly. A direct correlation between the contaminant coverage area and the fracture toughness of the bonded joint was established. Another factor that influences bond performance during an aircraft’s service life is its long term strength upon exposure to harsh environmental conditions or when subjected to severe mechanical loading. A test procedure was successfully developed in order to evaluate durability of ABCJ’s comprising severe environmental conditioning, fatiguing in ambient air and a combination of both. The bonds produced were durable enough to sustain the tests cases mentioned above when conditioned for 8 weeks and did not experience any loss in strength. Specimens that were aged for 80 weeks showed a degradation of 10% in their fracture toughness when compared to their baseline datasets. The effect of various exposure times needs to be further evaluated to establish the relationship of durability that is associated with the fracture toughness of ABCJ’s.

In recent years, the use of composite materials in the aeronautic, automotive, marine construction, etc. has increased significantly. Hence, there is an increasing need for repair technologies on primary structural components, as replacing a damaged component by a new one is not cost effective in many cases. The composite structures experience damage in service that comes from accidental impacts, mechanical stresses, environmental factors (moisture and temperature), etc. Thus, maintenance and repair is the concern of the end users as well as of the manufacturers. Suitable material systems and controlled curing conditions are essential to fabricate reliable repairs. In this work, the effect of pre-bond moisture is analyzed for co-bonded adhesive joints subjected to static and fatigue loads. Specimens with three levels of pre-bond moisture (0%, 0.33% and 1.25%) and two different adhesive films (F1, F2) have been used in the analysis
Durant els últims anys, la utilització de materials compòsits en la indústria aeronàutica, automoció, construcció marina, etc. ha tingut un gran creixement. Es per aquesta raó, que cada vegada té més importància el desenvolupament de mètodes per a la seva reparació, i especialment la definició mètodes de reparació en components que realitzen una funció estructural, doncs la substitució del component no és econòmicament viable en molts dels casos. És un fet conegut, que les estructures de material compòsit en condicions de servei pateixen danys provocats per impactes accidentals, tensions mecàniques, efectes ambientals (humitat i temperatura), etc. Per tant, el manteniment i la reparació d’aquestes estructures són considerats processos de vital importància per a l’usuari final i també per als fabricants. Una bona tria dels materials, així com un bon control dels processos de curat, tenen un gran efecte en l’obtenció de reparacions fiables. En aquest treball s’ha analitzat l’efecte la l’absorció de la humitat en el substrat abans del procés de curat en unions co-encolades sotmeses a càrregues estàtiques i de fatiga. L’anàlisi s’ha dut a terme amb provetes amb 3 nivells d’absorció d’humitat (0%, 0.33% y 1.25%) i dos tipus d’adhesius laminats (F1 i F2)

Les préoccupations environnementales de l'industrie et les stratégies visant à développer un système économique plus durable suscitent un intérêt croissant pour la recherche dans le domaine des biocomposites. Le fort caractère polaire et hydrophile des fibres végétales entraîne, lors de leur utilisation comme renfort, une complexité de mise en œuvre et des limites en termes de transfert de charge à l’interface fibre/matrice. Ces verrous pour le développement des biocomposites sont les lignes directrices de ce travail de thèse s'inspirant de la présence des interfaces au sein des tiges de chanvre. L’évolution progressive de la microstructure et des propriétés mécaniques est cruciale pour l'intégrité et le fonctionnement de la tige à travers des régions de transition. Ces interfaces, potentiels maillons faibles de la structure, sont étudiées en appliquant un processus de rouissage impactant la microstructure interne et la cohésion tissulaire. Des tiges aux fibres élémentaires, l'étude du comportement mécanique des systèmes naturels est une source d’inspiration pour un transfert des principes fondamentaux des biocomposites. Visant à accroître la compréhension de l'effet de l'humidité présente dans l’environnement lors des utilisations composites, l’analyse des propriétés hygro-mécanique permet de mettre en évidence des performances optimales de composites unidirectionnels de part un effet bénéfique de la sorption d’eau. Des études à l'échelle microscopique ont permis d’attribuer une contribution importante du comportement hygroscopique aux performances de l'interface fibre/matrice par la création de contraintes résiduelles et de mécanismes d'adhésion capillaire. Généralement décrite comme un inconvénient, ce travail de recherche montre que la sensibilité à l'eau des fibres végétales ainsi que la sorption de vapeur d’eau dans un biocomposite pourraient favoriser le transfert de charge et être bénéfiques pour leurs performances mécaniques
Industry environmental concerns and strategies to become part of a more sustainable economic system, leads to a growing interest in research on biocomposite. The strong polar and hydrophilic nature of plant fibers leads, when used as a reinforcement, to a complexity of biocomposite manufacturing and limits in terms of load transfer at the fiber/matrix interface. These major locks (fiber polarity and moisture sensitivity) for biocomposites development are the guidelines of this thesis work taking its inspiration in the design of hemp stem tissue interfaces. The multi-scale evolution of gradient microstructure and internal mechanics is crucial for the integrity and functioning of the stem through smooth transitions regions. These potential weak interfaces are investigated by applying a retting process that affect the stem internal microstructure and tissue cohesion. From the stems of agricultural crops to the hierarchical elementary fibers, studying the mechanical behavior of natural systems may serve as inspiration for a biomimetic transfer of the fundamental principles to fiber-reinforced composites. Aimed at increasing the understanding of the effect of moisture present during composite use, hygro-mechanical coupling highlights an optimum in hemp fibre-based unidirectional composites performances from a beneficial effect of moisture sorption. Deeper analysis at the micro-scale attributed a significant contribution of this hygroscopic behavior to fiber/matrix interface performances through the creation of residual stresses and capillary adhesion mechanisms. Generally described in the literature as a drawback, this research demonstrates that water sensitivity of plant fibers and moisture sorption in biocomposite could promote load transfer and be beneficial for their performance

In this thesis, the focus has been on micro-mechanical mechanisms in polymer-based materials and structures. The first part of the thesis treats length-scale effects on polymer materials. Experiments have showed that the smaller the specimen, the stronger is the material. The length-scale effect was examined experimentally in two different polymers materials, polystyrene and epoxy. First micro-indentations to various depths were made on polystyrene. The experiments showed that length-scale effects in inelastic deformations exist in polystyrene. It was also possible to show a connection between the experimental findings and the molecular length. The second experimental study was performed on glass-sphere filled epoxy, where the damage development for tensile loading was investigated. It could be showed that the debond stresses increased with decreasing sphere diameter. The debonding grew along the interface and eventually these cracks kinked out into the matrix. It was found that the length to diameter ratio of the matrix cracks increased with increasing diameter. The experimental findings may be explained by a length-scale effect in the yield process which depends on the strain gradients. The second part of the thesis treats mechano-sorptive creep in paper, i.e. the acceleration of creep by moisture content changes. Paper can be seen as a polymer based composite that consists of a network of wood fibres, which in its turn are natural polymer composites. A simplified network model for mechano-sorptive creep has been developed. It is assumed that the anisotropic hygroexpansion of the fibres leads to large stresses at the fibre-fibre bonds when the moisture content changes. The resulting stress state will accelerate creep if the fibre material obeys a constitutive law that is non-linear in stress. Fibre kinks are included in order to capture experimental observations of larger mechano-sorptive creep effects in compression than in tension. Furthermore, moisture dependent material parameters and anisotropy are taken into account. Theoretical predictions based on the developed model are compared to experimental results for anisotropic paper both under tensile and compressive loading at varying moisture content. The important features in the experiments are captured by the model. Different kinds of drying conditions have also been examined.
QC 20100910

Materials derived from chicken feathers could be used advantageously in composite building material applications. Such applications could potentially consume the five billion pounds of feathers produced annually as a by-product of the U.S. poultry industry. To aid the development of successful applications for chicken feather materials (CFM), the physical and mechanical properties of processed CFM have been characterized in this research. Results describing the moisture content, aspect ratio, apparent specific gravity, chemical durability, Youngs modulus, and tensile strength for processed CFM and specifically their fiber and quill components are presented herein. Processed chicken feather fiber and quill samples were found to have similar moisture contents in the range of 16 - 20%. The aspect ratio (i.e., length/diameter) of samples were found to be in the range of 30 - 50, and the fiber material was found to have a larger aspect ratio than the quill material. A comparison with values in the literature suggests that different processing regimes produce CFM with higher aspect ratios. Samples were found to have apparent specific gravities in the range of 0.7 - 1.2, with the fiber material having a higher apparent specific gravity than the quill material. A comparison with values in the literature suggests that apparent specific gravity results vary with fiber length and approach the value for keratin as fiber length decreases and internal voids become increasingly accessible. Chemical durability results showed that CFM rapidly degrade in highly alkaline (pH=12.4) environments and are, thus, likely incompatible with cement-based materials without special treatment. The Youngs modulus of processed chicken feather materials was found to be in the range of 3 - greater than 50 GPa and, thus, comparable to the Youngs moduli of other natural fibers. The tensile strength of oven-dried samples was found to be in the range of 10 - greater than 70 MPa. In agreement with results in the literature, the fiber material was found to have a greater tensile strength than the quill material. Finally, a simplified approach for comparing the effective Youngs moduli and effective tensile strengths of various processed CFM samples was introduced.

Dans le cadre de la tenue au feu des matériaux composites, il est nécessaire d’évaluer la dégradation de leurs propriétés thermiques et mécaniques due à des pertes de masse, de la fissuration matricielle et/ou des délaminages. Néanmoins, peu d’études dans la littérature sur la tenue en température des composites aéronautiques concernent le comportement mécanique et la rupture des interfaces avant toute dégradation thermique, sujet qui est l’objet principal de ce travail. Ainsi, l’objectif est de proposer un modèle de prévision de rupture concernant tant l’amorçage que la propagation du délaminage pour des chargements thermomécaniques. Ce travail a porté en grande partie sur la caractérisation des propriétés d’interfaces à l’aide d’une analyse d’essais de propagation de fissure en mode II pour des éprouvettes chauffées par effet Joule. Ces analyses numériques montrent que le comportement du pli n’explique pas la réponse macroscopique pseudo-ductile observée expérimentalement. Ainsi, une méthode de dialogue essai-calcul, comparant les champs cinématiques mesurés par corrélation d’images numériques et ceux simulés par éléments finis, souligne l’importance du comportement visqueux à l’échelle de l’interface.C’est par une approche similaire de type FEMU que les paramètres d’une loi de rupture de type cohésif ont été identifiés en température et en tenant compte des différentes sources d’incertitude. Ce travail met en évidence la similitude entre le cisaillement plan et hors plan, tant sur le comportement que sur la rupture. En parallèle, l’analyse d’essais de tenue en température par impact laser a permis d’établir un critère d’amorçage par une approche couplée en contrainte et en énergie. Une confrontation de ce critère aux paramètres de la loi de zone cohésive identifiés précédemment permet de discuter de l’échelle de modélisation de l’interface
Within the framework of the fire resistance of composite materials, it is necessary to assess the degradation of their thermal and mechanical properties due to mass losses, matrix cracking and/or delamination cracks. Nevertheless, few studies in the literature about the temperature resistance of aeronautical composites concern the mechanical behaviour and the rupture of interfaces before any thermal degradation,subject which is the main topic of this work. Thus, the objective is to propose a failure model concerning both the delamination crack initiation and growth under thermomechanical loads. Much of this work has focused on the characterisation of interface properties using an analysis of mode II crack propagation tests for Joule heated specimens. These numerical analyses show that the ply behaviour does not explain the macroscopic pseudo-ductile response observed experimentally. Thus, a test-calculation dialog method, comparing the kinematic fields measured by digital images correlation and those simulated by finite elements, underlines the importance of the viscous behaviour at the interface scale. By a similar FEMU approach the parameters of a cohesive-type fracture law have been identified in temperature and taking into account the different sources of uncertainty. This work highlights the similarity between plane and out-of-plane shearing, both on behaviour and on failure. In parallel, the analysis of temperature resistance tests by laser impact made it possible to establish a crack initiation criterion by a coupled stress and energy approach. A comparison of this criterion with the parameters of the cohesive zone law previously identified makes it possible to discuss about the modeling scale of the interface

Los volantes de inercia superan a las baterías eléctricas por su capacidad de absorber y ceder energía en poco tiempo y, si se fabrican con materiales compuestos, también por su reducido peso. La tesis presenta un estudio sobre los rotores de materiales compuestos aplicados a los acumuladores cinéticos para hacerlos más asequibles a usos industriales baratos. Para ello se proponen dos objetivos: obtener un sistema analítico de cálculo, y mejorar el diseño de rotores de bajo coste.
Se desarrolla un sistema analítico de cálculo muy completo, tanto en las cargas como en las tensiones. Se consideran todas las cargas necesarias para el diseño mecánico del rotor: la fuerza centrífuga, la fuerza de aceleración y las tensiones residuales, térmica y de hidratación; y se determinan todas las componentes, normales y cortantes, de la tensión para cada punto del rotor.
El cálculo en condiciones de tensión plana, utilizado por la mayoría de autores, se amplía con el cálculo en deformación axial constante, que es una variante mejorada de la deformación plana. Se comprueba que sus resultados son mejores que los de tensión plana cuando se comparan con los obtenidos en modelos de elementos finitos. Paralelamente, como aportación nueva de la tesis, se deducen las funciones de la variación de la tensión axial y de la tensión cortante radial-axial a lo largo del eje longitudinal del rotor. A partir de estos resultados se desarrolla un sistema general de cálculo que, además de unificar los sistemas de tensión plana y deformación axial constante, permite determinar todas las tensiones en cualquier posición radial-axial del rotor.
Este sistema unificado de cálculo se amplia con tres particularidades: una aplicación de cálculo para resolver rotores multicapa, las ecuaciones especiales para los materiales singulares no resolubles con las ecuaciones generales, y el cálculo de capas con fibras orientadas axialmente aplicadas para refuerzo en configuraciones especiales.
Con el objeto de mejorar las prestaciones del rotor se estudian dos procedimientos para crear tensiones de pretensado: generando tensiones durante el bobinado y utilizando las tensiones residuales térmicas. En el primero se elabora un sistema analítico de cálculo para determinar las tensiones residuales de bobinado y se complementa con una simulación mediante elementos finitos basada en submodelos incrementales. Ambos cálculos son capaces de simular el material no curado aplicando las propiedades viscoelásticas de los ensayos experimentales de otros autores. En el segundo se presenta un sistema nuevo, denominado pretensado térmico, basado en el curado por etapas, que genera tensiones residuales parecidas a las de bobinado pero con menos problemas de fabricación.
El diseño de volantes se aplica a tres configuraciones básicas: rotores híbridos multicapa con materiales de rigidez progresiva, rotores de un solo material con anillos de elastómero y rotores con pretensado térmico.
Sus prestaciones se valoran con tres variables: la masa, el volumen y el coste del material; de las cuales el coste es la principal y se utiliza para la optimización de la geometría.
En cada configuración se determina la energía máxima para distintas relaciones de radios del rotor y se compara con el rotor de un sólo material. Se utilizan los materiales básicos usados en la fabricación de rotores: la fibra de carbono con matriz epoxi, la fibra de vidrio con matriz epoxi, el aluminio y el acero. Los dos materiales compuestos ofrecen mejores resultados que los metales, pero disminuyen sensiblemente en rotores con espesor de pared grande. En estos casos, la energía por unidad de coste mejora aplicando los anillos elásticos y el pretensado térmico.
Flywheels are better than electric batteries in that they absorb and yield energy in shorter time and, if made out of composite materials, also in that they weight less. This thesis presents a study of composite material rotors applied to kinetic accumulators in order to make them usable for low cost general industrial uses. Two objectives are proposed: a) to develop an analytical system for computation and b) to design alternatives in order to improve the performance on low-cost rotors.
The analytical system is intended to be very complete, considering all relevant types of external loads and stress components. For the former, centrifugal, acceleration forces and residual, thermal and moisture stresses are included. For the latter, five normal and shear components are computed at each point of the rotor.
The usual plane stress condition is expanded with the consideration of constant axial strain, along the lines of the plane strain hypothesis but with greater accuracy. It is shown that the current theory results fit the ones from finite elements much better than those from plain stress. As a new contribution, the functions for the axial stress and the radial-axial stress along the axis of the rotor are developed. From these results, a general system that unifies the plane stress and constant axial strain can compute the stress state at any position.
In addition, the unified system includes three novel aspects: an extension of computation for multi-layer rotors, special equations for some materials in which behaviour present singularities and the computation of layers with fibers along the axial direction, which can be useful as a reinforcement for some configurations.
Two procedures that can create beneficial residual stresses are studied: generating stresses during the filament winding and using the thermal stresses. For the first, analytical expressions are developed and validated and complemented with especially developed finite elements based on incremental submodels. In both cases the material is characterized by viscoelastic properties taken from the literature. For the second, a new procedure called thermal prestress is based on the accumulation of partial curing processes (by stages), which is able to create residual stresses similar to those of winding but involving simpler manufacturing.
Three basic configurations are studied for the design: hybrid rotors with progressive stiffness along the radius, single material rotors with elastomer thin rings and rotors manufactured with thermal prestress, evaluating the performance as a function of the mass, volume and cost of the material. The latter is defined as the most important, and it is used as a reference for the geometry optimization.
The maximum energy stored on each of the configurations is compared with that of a single material rotor, using the most common ones: glass and carbon fiber both with epoxy matrix, aluminium and steel. Results show that glass/epoxy has the highest storing capability per unit cost, although the number is greatly reduced when the thickness increases. If this rotor has a thin layer of carbon/epoxy, the capability does not increase, although it does with distributed elastomeric layers. There is also an increase with fabrication based on the thermal prestress technique.

The aim of this study is to develop an explicit analytical formulation based on the anisotropic elasticity theory that determines the behavior of fiber reinforced composite vessel under hygrothermal loading. The loading is studied for three cases separately, which are plane strain case, free ends and pressure vessel cases. For free-end and pressure vessel cases, the vessel is free to expand, on the other hand for plane strain case, the vessel is prevented to expand. Throughout the study, constant, linear and parabolic temperature distributions are investigated and for each distribution, separate equations are developed. Then, a suitable failure theory is applied to investigate the behavior of fiber reinforced composite vessels under the thermal and moisture effects. Throughout the study, two computer programs are developed which makes possible to investigate the behavior of both symmetrically and antisymmetrically oriented layers. The first program is developed for plane strain case, where the second one is for pressure vessel and free-end cases. Finally, several thermal loading conditions have been carried out by changing the moisture concentration and temperature distributions and the results are tabulated for comparison purposes.

碩士
國立臺北科技大學
有機高分子研究所
102
With the progress of science and technology, People have already to pursuit of light, thin, short, small requirement and applied to portable electronic products design. Therefore, the using of plastic material to replace the traditional glass products which used as a display substrate seems to have become an inevitable trend of development of this technology. However, when the production of plastic materials as the substrate components, size stability is due to the plastic substrate susceptible from external environmental factors (such as temperature and humidity ), that change arising from factors and resulting in restrictions on using of plastic substrates. For examples of the heat shrinkage rate, coefficient of linear expansion and coefficient of moisture expansion of the plastic substrate are larger than the glass. The Linear expansion coefficient of the glass is 8 * 10-6m/mK, almost negligible state; now be known the panel element is often used as the material of PMMA material having a linear expansion coefficient of 85 * 10-6m/mK, consequently the humidity and heat by the environment impact is even more remarkable, so if only using a PMMA substrate material is unable to improve this poor size stability shortcomings. The research, using two types of plastic materials and multi-layer extrusions lamination process system make the plates. Testing of this composite materials plate, the test items were followed the current industry up for plastic panel testing standards, such as optical properties, surface pencil hardness, falling ball drop impact test, moisture absorption test, heat shrinkage resistance test. All of experimental results show this composite material has a low moisture absorption rate, low warpage characteristic and the light transmittance can be achieved with similar PMMA substrate. Furthermore it also has flexibility and great impact resistance that is greater than the glass substrate material so can replace the proposed material as glass.

The advancement in smart technologies for organic conducting polymers as flexible substrates in LEDs, PVs and solid state lighting necessitates the development of ultra-high barrier films to protect the devices from moisture and oxygen. The current encapsulation methodology of using layers of plastics and inorganic oxides has several deficiencies. Alternatively, the use of single layer of polymer nanocomposites is a promising substitute for these inorganic based encapsulation layers. The use of polymer materials have the advantage of flexibility, active electrodes printability and easy to make the devices for large area applications. The nano-fillers with high aspect ratio as nanocomposites ingredient in polymers reinforces its mechanical strength and also acts as a scavenging material for moisture and increases the residence time and/or for the penetrating moisture in the film. Chapter 1 gives the basic overview in the field of barrier technology films and coatings from polymers and inorganic oxide as either mono/multi layer hermetic encapsulation methods. The understanding of both chemistry and physics behind the moisture permeation and its interaction with the film material was discussed. The inclusion of functional nano-fillers as moisture trapping agents in the film provide better device protection achieved. The methods and instruments to measure such ultra-low permeation within the films are discussed. Finally, the advantage of polymer based nanocomposites for low-permeable films with existing materials are briefly discussed in this chapter. In this thesis, we employed both thermoplastic and thermoset polymer nanocomposites as encapsulation layer for device sealing. The use of ion-containing polymers (ionomers) as a sealant layer was also studied. Chapter 2 presents the detailed experimental procedures with materials and methods used in this thesis along with the synthesis methodologies to make films from the polymer. In chapter 3, we used cyclic olefin copolymer COC (copolymer of ethylene and norbornene) as an encapsulation layer with silica and layered silicate nano-fillers. The compatibility between hydrophilic silica and hydrophobic COC was achieved by maleic anhydride grafted PE with anchoring on COC as a compatibilizer and then silica filler was added to make the nanocomposite films. FTIR spectroscopy confirms the bond formation of silica with COC/MA-g-PE. The mechanical (tensile and DMA) and thermal studies (DSC) suggested that there is an improvement observed when adding silica/silicate layers in the polymer matrix with increased tensile strength, storage modulus and Tg. The calcium degradation test show enhanced performance towards moisture impermeation in the film. Chapter 4 deals with the synthesis of PVB based nanocomposite film with silica/layered silicate as nanofillers in the base matrix with varying degree of acetalization in the film. The FTIR and NMR spectroscopy show the evidence for acetal link formation in the in-situ synthesized PVB with silica/silicate nanofillers with three different acetyl contents. The tensile and DMA studies show the observed improvement in mechanical strength (increased tensile strength, storage modulus) were due to the intercalation of clay galleries during PVB formation and the interaction of silica particles interactive bond formation with –OH groups of PVA in PVB. The higher clay/silica particles show agglomerated nature and reduction in film strength. Thermal studies (DSC) show that there is an improvement observed in Tg when adding silica/silicate layers in the polymer matrix with moderate to low acetal content. The calcium degradation test show enhanced performance towards moisture impermeation in the film. Chapter 5 describes the inclusion of ionic groups (ionomers) in PVB and its effects on moisture permeation and mechanical properties. PVB ionomer was synthesized using formyl benzene 2-sulfonic acid sodium salt and 2-carboxy benzaldehyde (both sulfonic and carboxylic acid sources) as co-aldehyde with butyraldehyde and PVA. These acid groups were neutralized with potassium, magnesium and zinc ions. The level of acid content in the films was maintained between 6 to 28 mol percent. The sulfonic acid films with zinc and magnesium ions of 14 mol% exhibit good mechanical strength and low moisture permeation. Chapter 6 deals with the epoxy terminated silicone polymer nanocomposites as moisture barrier coatings for device encapsulation. Both silica and clay silicate layers were used to reinforce the silicone matrix. The silica nanoparticles were grafted with amino-silane groups, this would help in better mixing of silica particles in the silicone matrix due to the amine groups interaction in curing with epoxy groups. The calcium degradation test was used to determine the WVTR of the nanocomposites and device encapsulation was employed to estimate the degradation after exposure to ambient environment. Chapter 7 presents the concluding remarks of the results presented. The benefits as well as limitations of the polymer nanocomposite film and the future developmental work to be carried out are discussed in this chapter.

Most engineering as well as pavement materials are composites composed of two or more components to obtain a variety of solid properties to support internal and external loading. The composite materials rely on physical or chemical properties and volume fraction of each component. While the properties can be identified easily, the volume fraction is hard to be estimated due to the volumetric variation during the performance in the field. Various test procedures have been developed to measure the volume fractions; however, they depend on subjective determination and judgment. As an alternative, electromagnetic technique using dielectric constant was developed to estimate the volume fraction. Empirical and mechanistic approaches were used to relate the dielectric constant and volume fraction. While the empirical models are not very accurate in all cases, the mechanistic models require assumptions of constituent dielectric constants. For those reasons, the existing approaches might produce less accurate estimate of volume fraction. In this study, a mechanistic-based approach using the self consistent scheme was developed to be applied to multiphase materials. The new approach was based on calibrated dielectric constant of components to improve results without any assumptions. Also, the system identification was used iteratively to solve for dielectric parameters and volume fraction at each step. As the validation performed to verify the viability of the new approach using soil mixture and portland cement concrete, it was found that the approach has produced a significant improvement in the accuracy of the estimated volume fraction.