Thermochemical and statistical mechanical properties of natural sisal fibres

The paper describes from a statistical perspective the diameter-dependence tensile strength and Young's modulus in 40 sisal fibres samples. The fibres tensile properties depend significantly upon their diameter, which has been determined using optical and SEM microscope techniques. Further characterisation of the sisal fibres has been carried out using FT-IR and DSC techniques. The fibres' ultimate tensile strength and Young's modulus have been evaluated using four different estimation methods from two and threeparameter Weibull distribution statistics. We show the significant sensitivity of the Weibull predictions versus the number of fibres samples used in the distributions, with the Weibull modulus m(sigma) obtained from our results being 10% smaller compared to what is reported in open literature. The scatter of the mechanical properties of the sisal fibres shown in this work is also compared to analogous distributions present in other works. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.