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Tensile creep behaviour of unidirectional flax fibre reinforced bio-based epoxy composites
Publikationstyp
Journal Article
Date Issued
2020-04
Sprache
English
Author(s)
TORE-URI
Journal
Volume
18
Start Page
5
End Page
12
Citation
Composites Communications (18): 5-12 (2020-04)
Publisher DOI
Scopus ID
Composites made of natural fibres are promising in applications of structural components. Their creep resistance is a very important characteristic to be evaluated but is not well understood. This work investigates creep response of a unidirectional flax fibre reinforced bio-based epoxy under various tensile stress levels. Acoustic emission detection and fracture surface morphology analysis were utilized to analyse the creep mechanisms. In addition, a flax fibre pre-treatment using a green chemical (furfuryl alcohol) was applied in order to reduce to creep deformation. The results show that unidirectional flax fibre composites exhibit perceivable creep at low stress levels and have a relatively short creep rupture life at high stress levels. The creep deformation at low stress can be ascribed to the time-dependent shear deformation of matrices at interface area (hemicellulose/pectin matrix at fibrils interface and the epoxy at fibres interface). Creep at high stress are characterized with a development of extensive damage events and doesn't show typical three-stage creep deformation behaviour over creep life. Composites with furfuryl alcohol treated flax fibres displayed a reduced creep deformation of about 30% than their untreated counterparts at the same creep stress, proving that treating flax fibres with furfuryl alcohol is efficient to improve the creep resistance of flax fibre composites.
Subjects
Creep rupture
Green composites
Mechanical durability
Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
Service life