Service experience and life time prediction of naval composites

Abstract

Water diffusing into the bulk of glass reinforced plastics (GRP) can, over time, degrade the mechanical properties of the polymer matrix and the fibre/matrix interface. Residual strength and modulus measurements on samples taken from aged minehunter hulls in 1995 enabled the life of the Hunt Class vessels to be extended. Because no methodology existed for accurately predicting mechanical property degradation through the whole of life, a programme was carried out by QinetiQ in collaboration with DCN CESMAN which applied accelerated ageing at 40 and 60 C to glass/polyester laminates and correlated the results with real-time data generated for the Hunt Class mid-life update. This chapter presents results and through-life predictive models plus Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) images of water uptake from that study, and describes the effects of water immersion on fatigue life, fatigue limit and damage development, from another study. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.