No abstract

This paper deals with the characterization of a green composite, made of flax fibers and a bio-derived furan resin. It is shown that the porosity within the composite, which is determined by various parameters, adversely influences the mechanical performance as well as the water absorption behavior of the material. Since the furan resin induces a large amount of porosity during curing due to its foaming characteristic, the aim of this study is to find a method in order to minimize this so-called structural porosity. Therefore it is paid special attention to the conversion between weight and volume fractions and the volumetric interaction of the constituent phases.

Some matrix polymers, such as polyfurfuryl alcohol (PFA) generate water during the processing of fiber-reinforced polymer composites which slows down the process speed and may adversely affect the overall material properties. In this paper, the effect of the water absorbance characteristics of reinforcing fibers on the process ability of PFA composites at short cycle times (industrial processing) is investigated and evaluated. Natural and synthetic fiber types which exhibit a high, medium, and low water absorbance capacity as well as different textile architectures are compared. The processing-induced composite morphology is assessed and correlated with the material's mechanical properties. The results reveal a high potential of hydrophilic natural fibers for significantly reducing the processing time while maintaining the overall performance characteristics of PFA composites.

No abstract