Can anyone suggest to me which natural fiber other than coconut, saisal, jute I can do my PhD for lightweight natural matrix composites compared to steel properties?
Well..hemp is (still) the strongest natural fiber (tensile strengthwise), coir is the most stretchable one (high MFA)- similar to Abaca,.... Wood fibers are short (esp. hardwoods) and they act more like particles rather than fibers. The question is the type of technology you are aiming at. For an injection molding process you have to chop down the eg. hemp fibers, like for many other natural fibers. You wont be able to take advantage of the fiber properties with this technology. Wood fibers are short and the "reinforcement function" comes more from the recrystallisation effect when semicrystalline thermoplasts are used as a matrix. Or you use non-woven technologies...long fibers can be used but other restrictions occur...etc. Greetings..
It depends on what you are particularly interested in and what you have access to (both in terms of fibre availability and equipment for your experimental work).
You should definitely have a look at Pickering (http://goo.gl/JsxuT5 ) and Mohanty (e.g. http://goo.gl/oPziay).
Well..hemp is (still) the strongest natural fiber (tensile strengthwise), coir is the most stretchable one (high MFA)- similar to Abaca,.... Wood fibers are short (esp. hardwoods) and they act more like particles rather than fibers. The question is the type of technology you are aiming at. For an injection molding process you have to chop down the eg. hemp fibers, like for many other natural fibers. You wont be able to take advantage of the fiber properties with this technology. Wood fibers are short and the "reinforcement function" comes more from the recrystallisation effect when semicrystalline thermoplasts are used as a matrix. Or you use non-woven technologies...long fibers can be used but other restrictions occur...etc. Greetings..
In this reference:
Characterization and Modeling of the Moisture Diffusion Behavior of Natural Fibers
A. Célino, S. Fréour, F. Jacquemin, P. Casari
Journal of Applied Polymer Science (impact factor: 1.29). 01/2013; DOI:DOI: 10.1002/APP.39148
You can see a comparison (for the moisture diffusion behavior) between sisal, jute, hemp and flax fibers.
Its difficult to compare with steel. Based on the application you need to think of fibers. Try out silk fiber you can find good results.
We used wheat straw and it performed well after nanofibrillation. We included them in PVA films. Other: We mixed wheat straw particles into particle boards with success; one might also use straw particles as a filler with extrusion (using e.g. PLA or PP as a matrix). We did that successfully with hemp straw. Higher silica levels might be an issue but it is not a hindrance.
Thanks Padhu for that discussion...is highly needed! Natural fibers are stronger than steel only when they are related to the density (means specific strength is higher). However, many (thermoplast,..) polymers have also low density with fibre reinforcement they highly compete with our bio-based stuff. I worked for the automotive industry developing natural fiber-based indoor panels or dashboards. Problem was always the high variability of the natural fibre composites and often we failed because of that....its an old and unsolved problem...... any different experience on that?
No matter of which natural fiber you are suppose to use. it always godd option as compare to glass fiber.
is it really implemented in load bearing applications like wind turbine blade/automotive bumper, propeller shaft, leaf spring etc?
Flax fibers are really good. I am working with them and you can achieve high performance
Habiba, when you say flax fibers are "really good", what do you actually mean? How are working up your flax fibers. One cant say much about the performance of a certain fibers as long there is no decision made on how they are processed. And Padhu, why do you want to compare to steel? Natural fiber composites are not competing with steel.... Thanks for the continued discussion on that interesting topic!
If you are looking at automotive application, it depends where you are going to apply your developed composites. If it's for car dashboard/ instrument panels there are a couple of fibers you can use such as banana fiber, pineapple leaf fiber, sansevieria to mention but a few. For your PhD work, it will depend where you are located, if your research is going to be in Europe you can't find a lot of plant fibers, however if you are from a tropical country, it's advisable to utilize a fiber which is abundant in your locality and can be used for sustainable development not only of the local communities but also putting into consideration climate change!
Take note, that you can only opt for natural fibers if and only if you have three cards to play: Reducing the carbon footprint arising from synthetics, sustainable development, and climate change resilient mechanisms.
I will go with Samson...as he told these are the three major aspects for considering natural fiber composites.
which fibers are best for structural application for manufacturing of structures
Use natural Fiber's in polymeric matrix, this will give best results
Hemp is the good natural materials which has about 45-60 Gpa extension modulus. If you want to pursue phd in this area, you can use this hemp in the form of laminated sheets hybrid with Carbon nanotubes.
Hi,
You can use flax, palm, sisal fibers. Need to know what properties of the composite you are looking for?
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