Effect of Hygrothermal Aging on Polyetherimide Composites.

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of hygrothermal aging on both the static and thermo-mechanical behavior of polyetherimide composites. Tensile testing and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis were performed on the hygrothermally aged polyetherimide composites in the climatic cabin. The decrease in the Tg temperature, also following a decrease in the yield energy, indicated the plasticization for hygrothermally aged glass fiber reinforced PEI composite, but both tensile and DMTA analysis pointed out that glass fiber reinforced PEI composite retained its static and dynamic behavior on a large scale. The higher thermal expansion mismatch problem between carbon fiber and PEI matrix caused a remarkable decrease in the static energy values of the composite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]