Journal
JOURNAL OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS
Volume 48, Issue 14, Pages 1699-1707Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
DOI: 10.1177/0021998313490217
Keywords
Flax fibre; eco-composite; mechanical properties; microstructure; environmental degradation
Categories
Funding
- CNRS
- Region Basse-Normandie
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Since flax is the most promising plant for the reinforcement of polymer-based composites in structural applications, we have chosen to investigate its hygrothermal characteristics which can be useful for the understanding of the behaviour of other plant fibres. The flax fibres were exposed to different hygrothermal conditions: in an oven at various controlled temperatures (-40 to 140 degrees C) and measured relative humidity, in a climate chamber at 50% relative humidity for define temperatures between 25 degrees C and 85 degrees C, or different determined aging conditions. The correlation of these hygrothermal conditions to the evolution of the mechanical properties gives evidence of the prominent influence of water over temperature on the microstructural changes of flax fibres. The mechanical parameters drastically decrease in usually prescribed hygrothermal aging conditions for organic matrix composite materials, the strength being particularly sensitive to the presence of water. These evolutions were correlated to the fibre microstructure modifications induced by water absorption as revealed by electron microscopy analyses. These findings could be useful for understanding the behaviour of polymer matrix biocomposites in severe hygrothermal conditions.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available