0000000000014427
AUTHOR
Roberts Joffe
Mechanical performance of thermoplastic matrix natural-fibre composites
Publisher Summary Natural-Fibre Composites (NFCs) are being considered as high-tech materials meant to replace conventional composites in high-performance applications. There are a number of advantages that natural fibres can offer compared with synthetic materials. Thermoplastic natural-fibre composites can be classified by the polymer used as a matrix as well as by the type of the fibre reinforcing the polymer. Currently, the main areas of application of thermoplastic NFCs are packaging, transportation and building industries. The packaging industry requires materials that possess specific properties, but that can also be easily discarded after use. This chapter discusses the mechanical p…
Evaluation of interfacial shear strength by tensile tests of impregnated flax fiber yarns
Adhesion of flax fibers and polymer matrix as well as mutual bonding of elementary fibers in a technical fiber are among the principal factors governing the mechanical response of flax fiber-reinforced polymer–matrix composites. A method for evaluation of adhesion is proposed based on tension tests of impregnated fiber yarns, with subsequent characterization by optical microscopy of length distribution of fibers pulled out of the yarn fracture surfaces. An elementary probabilistic model is derived relating aspect ratio distribution of the pulled-out fibers to the fiber tensile strength distribution and the effective interfacial shear strength (IFSS). The method was applied to flax fiber/vi…
Effective elastic properties of biocomposites using 3D computational homogenization and X-ray microcomputed tomography
A 3D computational homogenization method based on X-ray microcomputed tomography (μCT) was proposed and implemented to investigate how the fiber weight fraction, orthotropy and orientation distribution affect the effective elastic properties of regenerated cellulose fiber-polylactic acid (PLA) biocomposites. Three-dimensional microstructures reconstructed by means of the X-ray μCT were used as the representative volume elements (RVEs) and incorporated into the finite element solver within the computational homogenization framework. The present method used Euclidean bipartite matching technique so as to eliminate the generation of artificial periodic boundaries and use the in-situ solution d…
Estimation of the tensile strength of an oriented flax fiber-reinforced polymer composite
Unidirectional orientation of natural fibers in a polymer composite ensures the highest efficiency of reinforcement. Flax fiber reinforcement is discontinuous due to limited fiber length and heterogeneous due to the presence of elementary fibers and their bundles. In order to assess the upper limit of tensile strength of such slightly misoriented, nominally UD natural fiber composite, a statistical strength model of continuous UD fiber reinforced composites is applied. It is found that the experimental strength of UD flax composites, produced from rovings or manually aligned fibers, approaches the theoretical limit only at relatively low fiber volume fraction ca. 0.2, being markedly below i…
Progressive cracking mastercurves of the transverse ply in a laminate
In this study, progressive cracking of a transverse layer in a cross-ply composite laminate subjected to tensile loading is considered. Using the results of a probabilistic cracking model, approximate relations for crack density as a function of stress are derived for initiation-controlled and propagation-controlled cracking. It is shown that the crack density evolution in the transverse ply can be represented by a mastercurve in suitably normalized coordinates. The mastercurve approach is applied to progressive cracking in glass/epoxy laminates. POLYM. COMPOS., 2009. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers
Apparent interfacial shear strength of short-flax-fiber/starch acetate composites
Abstract The paper deals with an indirect industry-friendly method for identification of the interfacial shear strength (IFSS) in a fully bio-based composite. The IFSS of flax fiber/starch acetate is evaluated by a modified Bowyer and Bader method based on an analysis of the stress–strain curve of a short-fiber-reinforced composite in tension. A shear lag model is developed for the tensile stress–strain response of short-fiber-reinforced composites allowing for an elastic-perfectly plastic stress transfer. Composites with different fiber volume fractions and a variable content of plasticizer have been analyzed. The apparent IFSS of flax/starch acetate is within the range of 5.5–20.5 MPa, de…
Statistical model of the transverse ply cracking in cross-ply laminates by strength and fracture toughness based failure criteria
Cross-ply laminate subjected to tensile loading provides a relatively well understood and widely used model system for studying progressive cracking of the transverse ply. This test allows to identify material strength and/or toughness characteristics as well as to establish relation between damage level and the composite stiffness reduction. The transverse ply cracking is an inherently stochastic process due to the random variability of local material properties of the plies. The variability affects both crack initiation (governed by the local strength) and propagation (governed by the local fracture toughness). The primary aim of the present study is elucidation of the relative importance…
Glass fibre strength distribution determined by common experimental methods
The tensile strength of brittle fibres is routinely described by the Weibull distribution. The parameters of the distribution can be obtained from tests on single fibres and fibre bundles or from model composite tests. However, there is growing evidence that the distribution parameters obtained by different experimental techniques differ systematically. In order to investigate the possible causes of such discrepancies, single-fibre tension, fibre bundle, and single-fibre fragmentation tests are employed in this study to obtain strength distribution of commercial E-glass fibres. The results reveal parameter dependence on the approach used to extract the distribution parameters from experimen…
Use of micro-tomography for validation of method to identify interfacial shear strength from tensile tests of short regenerated cellulose fibre composites
The interfacial shear strength of short regenerated cellulose fibre/polylactide composites was characterized by means of an industry-friendly adhesion test method. The interfacial shear strength was back-calculated from the experimental tensile stress-strain curves of composites by using a micro-mechanical model. The parameters characterizing the microstructure of the composites, e.g. fibre length and orientation distributions, used as input in the model were obtained by micro-tomography. The investigation was carried out on composites with untreated and surface treated fibres with various fibre weight contents (5wt%, 10wt%, and 15wt% for untreated fibres, and 15wt% for treated fibres). The…
Strength distribution of elementary flax fibres
Abstract Flax fibres, along with a number of other natural fibres, are being considered as an environmentally friendly alternative of synthetic fibres in fibre-reinforced polymer composites. A common feature of natural fibres is a much higher variability of mechanical properties. This necessitates study of the flax fibre strength distribution and efficient experimental methods for its determination. Elementary flax fibres of different gauge lengths are tested by single fibre tension in order to obtain the stress–strain response and strength and failure strain distributions. The applicability of single fibre fragmentation test for flax fibre failure strain and strength characterization is co…
Strength of cellulosic fiber/starch acetate composites with variable fiber and plasticizer content
In this experimental study, the performance of injection-molded short flax and hemp fibers in plasticized starch acetate were analyzed in terms of strength. Parameters involved in the analysis are a variable fiber and plasticizer content. The measured strength of the composites varies in the range of 12–51 MPa for flax fibers and 11–42 MPa for hemp fibers, which is significantly higher than the properties of the unreinforced starch acetate matrix. The micro-structural parameters used in modeling of composite strength were obtained from optical observations and indirect measurements. Some of these parameters were qualitatively verified by X-ray microtomography.
Scale effect of the tensile strength of flax-fabric-reinforced polymer composites
The development of UD natural fiber composites, considered for application as structural materials, necessitates evaluation of the scale effect of their strength. Alignment of the fibers in flax bast fiber composites can be achieved by employing textile reinforcement, such as yarns and fabrics. Cutting specimens for mechanical tests out of such textile-reinforced composite plates results in a complex non-uniform reinforcement structure at their edges, which may affect the strength of specimens. Scale effect of the tensile strength in the fiber direction of flax-fabric-reinforced composites is studied in the current work. A model accounting for both volume and edge effect of the specimens o…
Model of the mechanical response of short flax fiber reinforced polymer matrix composites
Abstract Natural-fiber-reinforced short-fiber composites are finding more applications lately, therefore there is a need for estimation of the mechanical properties of such composites based on the properties of the constituents. The fibers themselves also possess complicated internal structure, resulting in anisotropy of their properties. Taking into account the internal structure of bast fiber, we evaluate the elastic properties of a composite unit cell, consisting of a fiber of average length and matrix according to the fiber volume fraction in the composite. The unit cell properties are used to estimate the stiffness of a misaligned short-fiber composite by means of orientation averaging…
Prediction of crack onset strain in composite laminates at mixed mode cracking
Failure process of continuous fiber reinforced composite laminates in tension usually starts with appearance of intralaminar cracks. In composite laminates with complex lay-ups and/or under combined loading, intralaminar cracks may develop in plies with different reinforcement directions. A necessary part of mixed mode cracking models is the criterion of failure. For propagation-controlled fracture it is usually formulated in terms of energy release rates and their critical values of the particular composite material. Intralaminar fracture toughness of unidirectionally reinforced glass/epoxy composite was experimentally determined at several mode I and mode II ratios. It is found that the c…
Mechanical properties of natural fiber composites produced using dynamic sheet former
Composites formed from wood fibers and man-made cellulosic fibers in PLA (polylactic acid) matrix, manufactured using sheet forming technique and hot pressing, are studied. The composites have very low density (due to high porosity) and rather good elastic modulus and tensile strength. As expected, these properties for the four types of wood fiber composites studied here improve with increasing weight fraction of fibers, even if porosity is also increasing. On the contrary, for man-made cellulosic fiber composites with circular fiber cross-section, the increasing fiber weight fraction (accompanied by increasing void content) has detrimental effect on stiffness and strength. The differences …
Stiffness and strength of flax fiber/polymer matrix composites
Flax fiber composites with thermoset and thermoplastic polymer matrices have been manufactured and tested for stiffness and strength under uniaxial tension. Flax/polypropylene and flax/maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene composites are produced from compound obtained by coextrusion of granulated polypropylene and flax fibers, while flax fiber mat/vinylester and modified acrylic resin composites are manufactured by resin transfer molding. The applicability of rule-of-mixtures and orientational averaging based models, developed for short fiber composites, to flax reinforced polymers is considered. POLYM. COMPOS. 27:221–229, 2006. © 2006 Society of Plastics Engineers
Fibre fragment distribution in a single-fibre composite tension test
Abstract Single fibre fragmentation tests are performed for brittle fibres with Weibull strength distribution and different surface treatments. The fragmentation process is modelled and closed-form expressions for break spacing distribution are obtained. The model accounts for the effect of finite fibre length on the initial fragmentation as well as for break interaction on the advanced fragmentation stage. It is assumed that the exclusion zone due to fibre–matrix interface failure and stress recovery in the fibre is linearly dependent on the applied load. This assumption is validated experimentally. The derived theoretical average fragment length dependence on applied load is used to deter…
Non-destructive automatic determination of aspect ratio and cross-sectional properties of fibres
A novel method for computerised estimation of the aspect ratio distribution and various cross-sectional geometrical properties of fibres in short-fibre reinforced composites is proposed. The method, based on X-ray micro-computed tomography, is non-destructive and does not require user intervention. Based on results on specially fabricated model material, the accuracy and precision of the method seems adequate. The method is applied in analysing a manufacturing process of wood fibre reinforced thermoplastic composite. The results indicate a significant decrease of the aspect ratio of fibres during the processing steps. Finally, the feasibility of the method is assessed by estimating paramete…