Physical and Mechanical Properties of Natural Leaf Fiber-Reinforced Epoxy Polyester Composites

Abstract

In recent times, demand for light weight and high strength materials fabricated from natural fibres has increased tremendously. The use of natural fibres has rapidly increased due to their high availability, low density, and renewable capability over synthetic fibre. Natural leaf fibres are easy to extract from the plant (retting process is easy), which offers high stiffness, less energy consumption, less health risk, environment friendly, and better insulation property than the synthetic fibre-based composite. Natural leaf fibre composites have low machining wear with low cost and excellent performance in engineering applications, and hence established as superior reinforcing materials compared to other plant fibres. In this review, the physical and mechanical properties of different natural leaf fibre-based composites are addressed. The influences of fibre loading and fibre length on mechanical properties are discussed for different matrices-based composite materials. The surface modifications of natural fibre also play a crucial role in improving physical and mechanical properties regarding composite materials due to improved fibre/matrix adhesion. Additionally, the present review also deals with the effect of silane-treated leaf fibre-reinforced thermoset composite, which play an important role in enhancing the mechanical and physical properties of the composites.

Experimental investigation on mechanical properties and free vibration characteristics of epoxy‐based glass/flax laminates

“…Following that, a single layer of glass fiber was placed in the outer layer to accomplish 20% fiber volume for glass, and six layers of flax fibers were kept as core layers to achieve 80% flax fiber volume for the NH3 hybrid laminate. The volume fraction of individual fiber present in the three types of glass/flax hybrid composite laminates, NH1, NH2, and T A B L E 1 Physical and mechanical properties of preferred reinforcements and matrix material [16][17][18] Properties E-glass Flax Epoxy Image Density (g/cc) NH3, were evaluated using the ASTM 3171 standard [21] and shown in Table 2. The average value of the overall volume fraction for the three hybrid laminates is found to be 0.322 ± 0.03 with void volume fraction of 0.016 ± 0.009.…”

Development of Fibre-Reinforced Cementitious Mortar with Mineral Wool and Coconut Fibre

“…Most of these synthetic fibres present ecological [13,14] and medical issues [15] during their production and usage. Furthermore, the cost of these human-made fibres (glass fibres, polypropylene fibres, and steel fibres) is high [16,17]. This has given rise to the need for innovative, sustainable, and natural materials that can be incorporated in mortar to improve the mechanical and structural properties, while taking into account the need for greener construction.…”

“…Short-length crystals are exposed and the cellulose component is depolymerized by the alkaline treatment, which removes the oils, waxes, inorganic salts, and lignin that coat the fibre's outer surface. The strength of composites can also be affected by excessive fibre concertation treatment, which can cause fibre surface rupture, damaging the primary and secondary walls of fibre [17]. Utilization of these fibres instead of engineered synthetic fibres in mortar or other materials has special benefits, such as lessening carbon footprints and helping build viable solid waste administration systems.…”

Experimental and numerical study on physico‐mechanical properties and Taguchi's designed abrasive wear behavior of hemp/nettle‐polyester hybrid composite

“…Bast fibers have plenty of preferences as compared to synthetic fiber, including lower cost, as dense material; availability is high, nonpoisonous, high flexibility, biodegradability, better damping behavior, sustainability, relative nonabrasiveness, energy absorption, superior specific modulus and strength, fracture resistance, ease of the process, and dimensional stability. [7][8][9][10][11] Moreover, the energy used for the fabrication of NF mat (10 MJ/kg) is 80% less than glass fibers mat (55 MJ/kg). [12] For all these superiorities, NF has limitations such as high-water uptake capacity, low thermal stability, and poor impact strength, which reduced the physicomechanical characteristics of the NF-polymer-based composite.…”