Open Access

ARTICLE

Properties of Woven Natural Fiber-Reinforced Biocomposites

Arunjunairaj Mahendran^1*, Günter Wuzella¹, Thomas Hardt-Stremayr¹, Wolfgang Gindl-Altmutter²

1 Kompetenzzentrum Holz GmbH, Wood Carinthian Competence Center (W3C), Klagenfurterstrasse 87-89, A-9300 St. Veit an der Glan, Austria
2 Department of Materials Sciences and Process Engineering, BOKU - University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, A-1190 Vienna, Austria

*Corresponding author:

Journal of Renewable Materials 2016, 4(3), 215-224. https://doi.org/10.7569/JRM.2016.634110

Abstract

Woven natural fiber-reinforced composites were fabricated using four different flax fabrics and two biobased epoxy resin matrices. The reinforced composites were prepared using resin infusion technique and fiber volume fractions of between 28–35% were achieved using this method. The fiber matrix interaction and the failure mechanism in the composite were observed using scanning electron microscopy. The flexural strength and modulus on the warp and weft directions were characterized and it was found that based on yarn count and yarn thickness change in the flexural strength was observed. Dynamic water absorption and thickness swelling were observed for a certain period of time and depended on pore volume and fiber volume fractions. Among the fabric architecture, on the weft direction satin weave with low fiber volume fraction has achieved the highest flexural strength and modulus of 220 MPa and 11.7 GPa respectively.

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Keywords

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