Nanoindentation Characterization of Vinylester Glass-fiber Composites Submitted to Dense Ultraviolet Radiation Exposure

CORDELLE ; DRISSI-HABTI

Type de document
ARTICLE A COMITE DE LECTURE NON REPERTORIE DANS BDI (ACLN)
Langue
anglais
Auteur
CORDELLE ; DRISSI-HABTI
Résumé / Abstract
The use of polymer matrix composites in building and construction has become increasingly attractive, though some issues are remaining, among which are the variations of mechanical properties following in outdoor environment, particularly due to dense UV-exposure. In this work, bulk vinylester as well as vinylester glass-fiber composite samples were exposed to UV-radiation using the SPHERE (Uv-radiation facilities located at NIST, Gaithersburg, Md, USA). Then, the Laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM) allows the 3D visualization and the quantification of vinylester damage due to the UV exposure. Nanoindentation, which is a very helpful Non-Destructive Technique, was applied to measure the local Modulus and Hardness on exposed surfaces. The preliminary studies showed a huge standard deviation because of the roughness of samples generated after UV-exposure. Long and tedious statistical analyses encouraged the development of a new method based on testing under nanoindentation the cross sections of the samples. Doing so, not only the characterization of the evolution of mechanical properties with the exposure time can be carried out, but also the quantification of the depth affected by UV radiations.
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