MEASUREMENT OF WATER DIFFUSION COEFFICIENT FOR UPE/PVC BLEND REINFORCED WITH E-GLASS FIBERS

The objective of this work was to study the influence of weight percentage ratios of (Unsaturated Polyester/Poly vinyl chloride) blends and E-glass fibre content on the diffusion coefficients of the blends from the relationship between water weight gain Mt and diffusivity for water immersed samples. Unreinforced and reinforced ( by one or two layers of chopped E-glass fibers) samples were prepared by hand lay up method with the ratios (95%UPE+5%PVC, 90%UPE+10%PVC and %85UPE+15%PVC), the prepared samples were immersed for 60 days in water to get the absorption curves. The results of laboratory examinations show the absorption curves of water gain Mt against the square root of the immersion timet are gradual increase until saturation then deviate lower due to weight loss of the immersed samples. The diffusion coefficients values have been calculated from the plotted curves, the calculated values reveal diffusion coefficients values increased with the increasing of PVC weight percentage and fibre content.