Acid Aging of CFRP Composite Materials for Solar UAV Structure

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation is to study the performance degradation mechanism of CRRP composite materials used in the structure of a solar UAV under acid rain environment and to provide references for the structural design of the solar UAV. An aging test was designed according to the actual working conditions of the solar unmanned aerial vehicle and was carried out by continuously immersing the composite material in both deionized water and an acidic solution with a pH of 2.0 at 60°C. The mechanical behavior of the composites was studied through a three-point bending test. The results showed that after 120 days of aging test, the composite material exhibits different characteristics in the two conditions. The composite material under the hygrothermal conditions finally reached the equilibrium moisture absorption content of 1.07%, and the flexural strength decreased by 8.77%. The composite material under acidic conditions deviated from the Fick behavior in the final stage of the test, and the final moisture content was 2.88%, and the bending strength decreased by 26.43%. Several typical empirical models were analyzed, and a hyperbolic tangent function empirical model with moisture content as the main variable was used to predict the CFRP flexural strength degradation process, and good results were obtained. The effect of aging conditions on the microstructure of composite materials was observed by SEM, and the aging mechanism of composite materials was analyzed. The corrosion of the polymer matrix and the debonding of the fiber/matrix interface are the root causes of the performance degradation of composite materials.