Volume 15, Issue 2, 2006

MECHANICAL AND MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF SELECTED NATURAL FIBRES

Ralf Schledjewski*, Luisa Medina, Alois K. Schlarb
Institut fuer Verbundwerkstoffe GmbH (IVW), Erwin-Schroedinger-Str. 58, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed Tel.: +49 631 2017 312, Fax: +49 631 2017 199 E-mail: Ralf.Schledjewski@ivw.uni-kl.de

(Received 5/06; accepted 6/06)

ABSTRACT

The present work aims to characterize the morphological and mechanical properties of hemp and kenaf fibres. The mechanical properties of natural fibres highly depend on many factors like soil, growth conditions, harvest time or fibre treatment. Since the mechanical properties of the composite are highly conditioned by the characteristics of the fibres, a comprehensive study of the mechanical properties of the fibres is required in order to optimize the composite’s properties. The fibres were characterized by single fibre tensile testing. Due to the high standard deviation of the measurements, the tensile strength data were statistically assessed. To describe strength data the Weibull distribution function was used. It has been assumed that the fracture stresses of natural fibres are distributed according to the two-parametric Weibull distribution.

Keywords: Natural fibre reinforced thermoset composites, mechanical properties, Weibull distribution