The investigation of stearic acid treatments on the water absorption, cataplasm and pull off test of flax fiber/polyester composites

Abstract

Flax fiber is a reinforcement material which is weak against water because it is one of the natural fibers. To improve this weakness, it was treated with stearic acid (SA) at different ratios (1, 2, 3 and 4 %). In addition, the effect of gelcoat and paint application on the performance of the sample was also examined. Flax fiber takes on a hydrophobic structure when treated with different ratios of stearic acid. When the test results were analyzed, the lowest water absorption results were obtained with 4 % SA treatment. It was observed that the water absorbing properties of the composite improved with the application of gelcoat and paint. In the cross-cut test performed after the cataplasm test (aging test), the adhesion performance of none of the specimens was adversely affected. There was no blister observed after aging test. According to the pull off test results, stearic acid application did not have a negative effect on the adhesion of the primer and paint applied to the surface. After the cataplasm test, the specimens were aged and curing was thus complete. For this reason, pull off test results were higher after cataplasm