• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.30 no.7 s.250
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• pp.779-786
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• 2006

Woven sisal textile reinforced composites were manufactured to evaluate fracture toughness, and tensile test. All specimens were immersed in water five times. All specimens are immersed in pure water during 9 days at room temperature, and dried in 1 day at $50^{\circ}C$. Two kinds of polymer matrices such as epoxy and vinyl-ester were used. Fractured surface were investigated to study the failure mechanism and fiber/matrix interfacial adhesion. It is shows that it can be enhanced to improve their mechanical performance to reveal the relationship between fracture toughness and water absorption fatigue according to different polymer matrices. Water uptake of the epoxy composites was found to increase with cycle times. Mechanical properties are dramatically affected by the water absorption cycles. Water-absorbed samples observed poor mechanical properties such as lower values of maximum strength and extreme elongation. The $K_{IC}$ values demonstrate a decrease in inclination with increasing cyclic times of wetting and drying fur the epoxy and vinyl-ester.