Water Absorption in Vegetable Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composites: A Three-Dimensional Investigation Using the Langmuir-Type Model

Abstract

This work presents a non-steady state and three-dimensional mathematical modeling to predict moisture transport (based on the Langmuir-Type Model) inside the vegetable fiber-reinforced composite materials. The numerical solutions of the governing equations have been obtain using the finite-volume method. The model was apply for vegetable fiber-reinforced polymer composites. Emphasis to the geometrical dimension effect of the composite in the water absorption process was given. Results of the average moisture content, free and entrapped water molecules concentration kinetics and free and entrapped water molecules concentration distributions inside the material along the process are shown and analyzed. In the distributions of the analyzed properties, it was observed that the geometric dimensions of the composite has influence in the water absorption process.