Water effect on interfacial adhesion of an optical fiber embedded in a composite material

The present paper reports on the study of the interfacial adhesion of an optical fiber embedded in a composite material aged in distilled water. Samples composed of optical fibers embedded in an epoxy vinylester resin or in resin/glass fibers systems were submitted to different aging duration in distilled water. Pull-out tests on optical fibers were carried out to measure the effect of water diffusion and glass concentration on fiber bonding. For resin/optical fiber samples, water diffusion leads to damage of the polymer/matrix interface from an aging duration of 15 days, and the interfacial stress values present a low decrease up to an aging duration of 60 days. For the case of composite/optical fiber samples, the greater the glass fiber content, the less is the water damage at the polymer interface. On the other hand, a linear development of interfacial debonding stress with increasing glass fiber concentration is reported.