Effect of Chemical Treatments on Flax Fibre Reinforced Polypropylene Composites on Tensile and Dome Forming Behaviour

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Wentian Wang¹  Adrian Lowe¹  Shankar Kalyanasundaram¹ 

关键词: anisotropic materials;    polymer-matrix composites;    mechanical properties;    wettability;    stamp forming;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijms16036202

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Tensile tests were performed on two different natural fibre composites (same constituent material, similar fibre fraction and thickness but different weave structure) to determine changes in mechanical properties caused by various aqueous chemical treatments and whether any permanent changes remain on drying. Scanning electronic microscopic examinations suggested that flax fibres and the flax/polypropylene interface were affected by the treatments resulting in tensile property variations. The ductility of natural fibre composites was improved significantly under wet condition and mechanical properties (elongation-to-failure, stiffness and strength) can almost retain back to pre-treated levels when dried from wet condition. Preheating is usually required to improve the formability of material in rapid forming, and the chemical treatments performed in this study were far more effective than preheating. The major breakthrough in improving the formability of natural fibre composites can aid in rapid forming of this class of material system.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.