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Flax-fibre-reinforced epoxy biocomposites are attractive for lightweight and recycling-oriented structures, yet the hygroscopic nature of flax reinforcement raises concerns about their durability under exposure to water and automotive operating fluids. This study evaluates the gravimetric uptake and tensile behaviour of woven flax/epoxy laminates after immersion in water and AdBlue. Laminates based on plain-weave flax fabric and the epoxy system were prepared by hand lay-up using three fabric layers. The fibre volume fraction was 46.4 %. Flat specimens were conditioned by immersion for 720 h at 20 °C. Gravimetric measurements showed an average mass gain of 9.50 wt % after water exposure and 8.00 wt % after AdBlue exposure. Tensile tests were performed on a Shimadzu AG-X 50 kN machine equipped with an integrated extensometer at 2 mm/min in accordance with ISO 527-4. The reference specimens reached an average tensile strength of 68.39 ± 2.99 MPa and an apparent tensile modulus of 6.89 ± 0.16 GPa. Water conditioning reduced these values to 62.11 ± 3.89 MPa and 5.31 ± 0.32 GPa, whereas AdBlue caused a greater decrease to 57.43 ± 2.83 MPa and 4.69 ± 0.17 GPa. Although water produced the higher gravimetric uptake, AdBlue caused the more pronounced deterioration in tensile performance, suggesting that the severity of degradation was not governed solely by the absorbed mass.
Keywords: Flax fibre, epoxy biocomposite, water ageing, AdBlue, gravimetric uptake© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.