Ductile unidirectional continuous rayon fibre-reinforced hierarchical composites
File(s)1-s2.0-S1359835X16302779-main.pdf (1.26 MB) Submitted and accepted version.pdf (1.4 MB)
Published version
Accepted version
Author(s)
Shamsuddin, SR
Lee, KY
Bismarck, A
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Endless rayon fibres (Cordenka®) were used to reinforce polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) nanocomposites containing 2.5 wt.% nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) to create truly green hierarchical composites. Unidirectional (UD) composites with 50–55% fibre volume fraction were produced using a solvent-free continuous wet powder impregnation method. The composites exhibit ductile failure behaviour with a strain-to-failure of more than 10% albeit using a very brittle matrix. Improvements at a model composite level were translated into higher mechanical properties of UD hierarchical composites. The Young’s moduli of rayon fibre-reinforced (NFC-reinforced) PHB composites were about 15 GPa. The tensile and flexural strength of hierarchical PHB composites increased by 15% and 33% as compared to the rayon fibre-reinforced neat PHB composites. This suggests that incorporation of NFC into the PHB matrix binds the rayon fibres, which does affect the load transfer between the constituents resulting in composites with better mechanical properties.
Date Issued
2016-08-20
Date Acceptance
2016-08-18
Citation
Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 2016, 90, pp.633-641
ISSN
1359-835X
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
633
End Page
641
Journal / Book Title
Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing
Volume
90
Copyright Statement
© 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Grant Number
EP/J013390/1
Subjects
Materials
0912 Materials Engineering
0913 Mechanical Engineering
0901 Aerospace Engineering
Publication Status
Published