Summary The research focused on the usage of waste oil palm biomass such as empty fruit bunch fibre (EFB), dried palm shell (DPS) and palm kernel shell (PKS) to produce palm oil‐based polyurethane (POPU) composite foams, and applied them as sandwich cores. The sandwich cores were attached with jute/epoxy composite facesheets to fabricate high‐strength bio‐composite sandwiches. Sandwich cores composed of 32 wt% of POPU binder, 8 wt% of EFB and 60 wt% of palm shells. Three palm shell systems from different blend ratios of DPS and PKS such as 100:0 (100D), 50:50 (50D50P) and 0:100 (100P) were investigated. The toughness of bio‐sandwiches was investigated by using falling weight impact machine with the impact energy level of 29 J, 39 J, and 49 J. Results indicated that the sandwich using 50D50P hybrid palm shell core exhibited the highest peak load and lowest total damaged areas for all energies. Sandwich of 100P also expressed higher impact load and energy compared to those of sandwich 100D. There are no perforation damage on the bottom facesheet of 50D50P and 100P sandwiches at all energy levels except 100D sandwich at an energy of 49 J. In addition, no rebounding of the impactor was found for all sandwiches at all impact energies.

No abstract

No abstract

Natural fibers are extracted from natural resources such as stems of plants. In contrast to synthetic fibers (e.g., carbon fibers), natural fibers are from renewable resources and are eco-friendlier. Plant fibers are important members of natural fibers. Review papers discussing the microstructures, performances and applications of natural plant fiber composites are available in the literature. However, there are relatively fewer review reports focusing on the modeling of the mechanical properties of plant fiber composites. The microstructures and mechanical behavior of plant fiber composites are briefly introduced by highlighting their characteristics that need to be considered prior to modeling. Numerical works that have already been carried out are discussed and summarized. Unlike synthetic fibers, natural plant fiber composites have not received sufficient attention in terms of numerical simulations. Existing technical challenges in this subject are summarized to provide potential opportunities for future research.