Preliminary Experimental Behavior of Bio‐Epoxy Polymer Impregnation on Curaua Fibers Against Glass Fibers

ABSTRACT This preliminary experimental investigation analyzes and compares the impregnation behavior of a bio‐epoxy polymer on curaua ( Ananas erectifolius ) fibers versus conventional glass fibers under laboratory‐scale conditions. The study explores how distinct fiber characteristics, particularly surface roughness and filament arrangement, influence impregnation dynamics such as penetration depth and droplet spreading efficiency. Experiments were conducted using gravitational forces, environmental pressures, and polymer droplet mass as the sole driving factors, without applying external mechanical pressure or controlled roller velocities. Simplified Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations qualitatively validated the observed impregnation trends and droplet behaviors. Results indicated that curaua fibers, with their higher surface roughness, exhibited approximately 19% lower polymer penetration depth at 12 s compared to glass fibers. An inverse problem approach based on Darcy's law was used to estimate a required external pressure of 1.32 MPa and an impregnation velocity of 41.58 mm/s for curaua fiber tows under the tested conditions. Overall, the findings provide essential exploratory insights into natural fiber through the estimated impregnation pressure and velocity in prepreg processing dynamics, directly contributing to future optimization efforts for biocomposite prepreg manufacturing processes.