Volume 10, Issue 2, 2001

 

ALL-PLANT FIBRE COMPOSITES: SELF REINFORCED COMPOSITES BASED ON SISAL

Xun LU, Ming Qiu ZHANG*, Min Zhi RONG, Guang SHI, Gui Cheng YANG

Key Laboratory for Polymeric Composite and Functional Materials of Ministry of Education, Zhongshan University, Guangzhou 510275, P. R. China       Materials Science Institute, Zhongshan University, Guangzhou 510275, P. R. China

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed

(Received 1/01; accepted 4/01)

ABSTRACT

In the present work slight benzylation of sisal fibre was carried out to prepare natural resource based self reinforced composites. By controlling the degree of benzylation, the outer layer of the ultimate cells was converted into thermoplastic and the inner part maintained the load bearing ability. When these modified fibres were moulded under certain temperature and pressure, the thermoplasticised portion flowed freely and served as matrix, while the unaffected parts in the core can still provide reinforcing effect. Such an all-plant fibre composite is characterised by self-reinforcement, easy processing and low cost.