Investigating the Moisture Absorption Behavior of Bamboo Fiber-reinforced Epoxy Composites by Modelling

Abstract

The aim of this research was to investigate the moisture absorption of bamboo fibers (BFs) and their composites manufactured using different methods. The hygroscopic properties of BFs, jute fibers (JFs), glass fibers (GFs), and epoxy (EP) were compared and analyzed using dynamic vapor sorption (DVS), as well as the hygroscopic properties of the BF-Naval Ordnance Laboratory (BF-NOL), JF-NOL, GF-NOL, and bamboo fiber-reinforced epoxy composites manufactured via filament winding (FW), hot pressing (HP), and resin transfer molding (RTM). The results were analyzed using the Guggenheim-Anderson-deBoer (GAB), parallel exponential kinetics (PEK), and DoseResp models. The results indicated that BFs conformed to type II. The moisture adsorption isotherms of BF-NOL, JF-NOL, GF-NOL, and BF composites prepared by different molding processes exhibited a typical V-shape. The GAB and DoseResp models provided good fits to the changes in adsorption and desorption processes. The final equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of BFs and BF-NOL were 27.1% and 3.95%, respectively, the final EMC of BF composites prepared by RTM was 2.34%.

Keywords

• bamboo fibers
• plant fiber
• moisture absorption
• dynamic vapor sorption (dvs)