Wettability of flax/basalt reinforced composites during aging in salt spray conditions

Abstract

Aim of this work was to investigate the wettability of natural fibres reinforced epoxy composites, subjected to aging tests performed on two different laminates. The first laminate was constituted by stacking ten layers of bidirectional flax fabrics. The second one was produced by replacing two external flax layers with two layers of basalt mat, for each side of the laminate. Both laminates were exposed to salt-fog environmental conditions, according to ASTM B 117 standard, for 60 days. The results of wettability were compared with those of the water uptake test. Moreover, an analysis of variance was performed in order to evaluate the significance of the parameters that influence the wettability of the structures and their interaction.