Volume 10, Issue 6, 2001

Determination of Interfacial Shear Strength and Critical Fibre Length in Injection Moulded Flax Fibre Reinforced Polypropylene

T. Aurich and G. Mennig*

Institute of Mechanical Engineering and Plastics Technology (IMK)
Chemnitz University of Technology
09107 Chemnitz, Germany

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed

(Received 9/01; accepted 2/02)

Abstract

Natural fibres are becoming more and more important as reinforcement in polymer based materials. Knowledge of interfacial shear strength and critical fibre length is important for the assessment of the mechanical properties of the composite and the estimation of the resultant fibre length distribution. This is particularly true for injection moulded reinforced thermoplastic parts. Because of the problems with the preparation of micro-mechanical specimens from natural fibres and thermoplastics, in the presented paper the characteristic values are calculated from macroscopic composite strength data.

 

 

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