Curauá fibers in the automobile industry – a sustainability assessment

Zah, Rainer; Hischier, Roland; Leão, Alcides Lopes; Braun, Ingo

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2006.05.036

Cited by 365 publications

(231 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…A fractographic analysis by SEM of the tip of tensile-ruptured sisal fibers, shown in Figure 7, provides evidence of a possible mechanism responsible for the inverse correlation between the strength and the fiber diameter in Equation (1) and (2). In fact, the thinner sisal fiber with a diameter of d = 0.05 mm in Figure 7(a) displays a fracture associated with relatively lesser fibrils.…”

mentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Among these successful "green" materials stands the natural fiber obtained from cellulose-based plants, also known as lignocellulosic fibers. From house construction to automobiles, the lignocellulosic fibers are replacing glass fiber especially as reinforcement of polymer composites [1][2][3][4]. Several automobile makers in Europe are increasingly using lignocellulosic fibers in many components, as illustrated in Figure 1 for a BMW sedan.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Diameter dependence of tensile strength by Weibull analysis: Part III sisal fiber

Inácio¹,

Lopes²,

Monteiro³

2010

Matéria (Rio J.)

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Environmental aspects and economical advantages are motivating the use of natural fiber as reinforcement of polymer composites in substitution for synthetic fiber composites such as fiber glass. In particular, the sisal fiber is one of the most investigated and being used in engineering systems. By contrast to synthetic fibers, natural fibers have the disadvantage of being heterogeneous in their dimensions specially the diameter. In several natural fibers it has been found that the smaller the diameter, the stronger is the fiber. In this work a Weibull analysis of sisal fibers tensile strength was performed to find a correlation with the diameter. The results revealed an inverse dependence of the tensile strength with the diameter. The observation of ruptured fibers by scanning electron microscopy suggested possible mechanisms that justify a hyperbolic correlation.

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mentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diameter dependence of tensile strength by Weibull analysis: Part III sisal fiber

Inácio¹,

Lopes²,

Monteiro³

2010

Matéria (Rio J.)

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“…Polymeric composites reinforced with short vegetal fibers have emerged as potential substitutes of glass fiber polymeric composites in many applications, mainly in the automotive industry [1,2,3] . These composites are mostly produced by thermoforming; however, they can be also produced by continuous large scale processes, like extrusion [4,5] , and can be molded into detailed parts, with good surface finishing, by injection molding.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanical properties, morphology and thermal degradation of a biocomposite of polypropylene and curaua fibers: coupling agent effect.

et al. 2013

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Biocomposites of polymers with vegetal fibers have a broad spectrum of applications due to their high specific properties in comparison to their counterparts made with fiberglass. Polypropylene, PP, composites with curaua fiber compatibilized with different concentrations of maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene, PP-g-MA, were characterized according to their mechanical properties, morphologies and thermal stabilities in oxidative and inert atmospheres. The composites were prepared by single screw extrusion and injection molded specimens were used for testing. The composite with 20 wt % of curaua fiber with and without compatibilizer presented improved mechanical properties compared to pure PP. The use of PP-g-MA as a compatibilizer significantly increased fiber/matrix adhesion, however, the mechanical properties were only slightly improved in comparison with composites without compatibilizer. We observed an improvement in thermal stability of the composites, compared to that expected from the weighted average of the individual components, both under inert and oxidative atmospheres. Furthermore, the thermal stability improved under inert atmosphere as a function of the concentration of compatibilizer. In this situation, indeed, there was a different shift of the weight loss processes owing to the presence of the compatibilizer.

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“…In the past decades they were extensively investigated [4][5][6][7][8] and are nowadays already applied in industrialized items with greater aggregated value. In the automobile industry, for instance, the use of polymer composites reinforced with lignocellulosic fibers is continuously replacing synthetic fiber composites, and expanding at a fast rate [9][10][11]. In fact, several automobile makers in Europe are using natural fiber composites not only to comply with increasingly stiffer environmental legislation [12] but also to satisfy the public demand for "green" cars.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Selection of high strength natural fibers

Monteiro¹,

Satyanarayana

Ferreira³

et al. 2010

Matéria (Rio J.)

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By means of dimensional selection of natural lignocellulosic fibers, based on precise diameter measurements, it was recently possible to obtain fibers with relatively higher tensile strength. The present article overviews works on the statistical evaluation, through the Weibull analysis, of the ultimate tensile stress of eight lignocellulosic fibers: sisal, ramie, curaua, jute, bamboo, coir, piassava and buriti. It is shown that, for all of these fibers, the tensile strength holds an inverse relationship with the fiber diameter. Statistically this relationship conforms to a hyperbolic type of analytical equation, which discloses the possibility of unusually high strength fibers to be selected in association with very small diameters. A structural analysis using scanning electron microscopy offered an explanation to the strengthening mechanisms responsible for the superior performance of these dimensionally selected fibers.

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Curauá fibers in the automobile industry – a sustainability assessment

Cited by 365 publications

References 14 publications

Diameter dependence of tensile strength by Weibull analysis: Part III sisal fiber

Diameter dependence of tensile strength by Weibull analysis: Part III sisal fiber

Mechanical properties, morphology and thermal degradation of a biocomposite of polypropylene and curaua fibers: coupling agent effect.

Selection of high strength natural fibers

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