Weather Aged Fique Fabric Reinforced Epoxy Composite: Impact Property Analysis

Natural materials have become quite common in recent years and are a major concern of the scientific community. In this sense, lignocellulosic fibers as substitutes for various synthetic reinforcements in polymer composites have shown great potential for technological applications. In particular, the applicability designated in this work are ballistic panels in which reliability, weight reduction, cost reduction and material sources are critical points for evaluation. Thus, the present work aimed to evaluate the impact energy of the epoxy matrix composite reinforced with 40 vol% of fique fabricFique fabric in the natural agingAging materials condition for 2,160 h (90 days). As main results, a significant degradation by photo-oxidative process was observed, as well as the appearance of micropores with concave shape and epoxy matrix microcracks. The energy absorption decreased by ~53% for Charpy test and ~12% for Izod test after the weathering of 2,160 h compared to the non-aged composite. Weibull shape parameter increased after the aging, indication of a premature failure issue. Different behavior between the Charpy and Izod tests was pointed out by ANOVA, suggesting the interference of sample size and exposure area.