Understanding the effect of temperature on the interfacial behavior of CFRP-wood composite via molecular dynamics simulations

LH Tam and A Zhou and ZC Yu and QW Qiu and D Lau, COMPOSITES PART B-ENGINEERING, 109, 227-237 (2017).

DOI: 10.1016/j.compositesb.2016.10.030

Carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) bonding technique can provide an adequate enhancement to wood structures. Varying temperature levels can affect the strengthening by CFRP, particularly the interfacial behavior of CFRP-wood composite, while the fundamental mechanism is still not clear. This research aims to evaluate the temperature effect on interfacial bonding of CFRP-wood composite, and to explore the fundamental mechanism by using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. After the specimens are conditioned at various temperature levels, the interfacial bonding performance of CFRP-wood composites is evaluated by acoustic-laser technique and shear test. The results indicate that the bonding is strong at low temperature and deteriorates at high temperature. Meanwhile, the fracture energy measured from the shear test and the MD simulation shows a similar trend, which decreases as the temperature level increases. It is found that the constituent materials deteriorate with increasing temperature, as evidenced by the conformational changes of the modeled epoxy-wood interface, which significantly weakens the interfacial bonding. The finding unveiled from our study demonstrates that the long-term exposure to high temperature can significantly deteriorate the CFRP-wood composite and consequently lead to a structural failure ahead of its service life, which should be considered particularly in tropical and subtropical regions. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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