Studies on Water Sorption Behaviour of Laminated Bamboo Polymer Composite

Department of Mechanical Engineering Education, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Jl. Ir Sutami No.36 A, Surakarta, Central Java, 57126, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: yuniarratnapratiwi@gmail.com

Abstract

The aim of this article is to evaluate water absorption in bamboo fiber composites. Bamboo is hydrophilic, means that it easily absorbs water. In this study the bamboo fiber-based composites were developed using hand lay up method, with epoxy resin as the matrix constituent. Water absorption characteristics of specimens of bamboo composite and epoxy were determined from water immersion tests at several temperatures. Gravimetric analysis was performed to determine the moisure absorbed as a function of time at two different temperatures: 25 ºC and 50 C. The diffusivity of water in an epoxy bamboo composite was determined after reaching saturation point. During room temperature soaking, epoxy specimen showed the characteristic of Fickian behavior. Similar immersion tests on bamboo-epoxy composites followed nonfickian behavior. Changes in the mechanical properties of material due to water absorption were evaluated from tensile testing on materials with varied water content. It was found that the waterabsorption in all samples reduced the tensile properties. The degradation of tensile properties was greater with an increasing temperature of immersion. The results of this study emphasize the importance ofconsidering deterioration of mechanical properties in the bamboo epoxy composites during their application in water and possibly in humid environment.