Development of Natural Fiber Composite for Structural Application

Mechanical Engineering

This study is to investigate the mechanical, hygral, and interfacial strength of continuous bamboo fiber reinforced epoxy composites. The untreated and alkali-treated continuous bamboo fibers were prepared from cutting the nature bamboo culm. The basic characteristics of the bamboo fibers, such as density, equivalent diameter, and tensile properties were experimentally measured. The bamboo fiber reinforced epoxy (BF/EP) composites were fabricated by the resin transfer molding (RTM) process with the resulting fiber volume fraction about 42%. The strength of bamboo fiber was found to decrease with the alkaline treatment. However, alkali-treated bamboo fiber reinforced epoxy composites acquired better tensile strength than those with untreated bamboo fibers. The untreated bamboo fiber was believed to have weak interface with the epoxy resin, which was verified by the subsequent interface strength tests. The size effect of bamboo fibers on the tensile properties of the BF/EP composites was also studied. The results showed that the tensile strength and Young's modulus of the composite increase with the decrease of the bamboo fiber diameter. For the hydrothermal aging test, BF/EP composites are highly sensitive to moisture absorption, and the moisture has a detrimental effect on the mechanical properties of the BF/EP composite.

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