Effect of different lignocellulosic fibre based needle punched nonwovens on mechanical properties of bio-reinforced composite

Abstract

Bio-reinforced composites have been prepared using polyester resin matrix and cross-laid needle-punched nonwoven fabrics of different lignocellulosic natural fibres (Jute, flax, sunhemp, kenaf, ramie, sisal, coir and pineapple) as well as jute-polypropylene and jute-acrylic blend reinforcement. The composite properties, such as tensile strength, flexural strength and impact strength, have been evaluated. The findings show that the tensile strength and stiffness are very high in case of sisal (211 MPa and 21 GPa) and flax (304 MPa and 30 GPa), which is almost comparable with e-glass. Properties of sunnhemp, coir, pineapple, and kenaf are found superior to ramie, jute and jute blend. The impact strength of pineapple composite (751 kJ/m²) is found very high. The mechanical properties of woven fabric composite are much lower than nonwoven fabric. Cross- direction of composite from nonwoven shows superior mechanical properties as compared to that of the machine direction. Synthetic fibre shows low stiffness (1 GPa) and flexural modulus (1.2 GPa) but very high impact strength (655 kJ/m²). Hence, most of the lingo-cellulosic fibres are suitable for composite reinforcement, especially where the high performance of glass-reinforced plastic is not essential.