The mechanical, hygral, and interfacial strength of continuous bamboo fiber reinforced epoxy composites

Jyun Kai Huang, Wen Bin Young

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

191 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

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 were 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 hygrothermal 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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)272-283
Number of pages12
JournalComposites Part B: Engineering
Volume166
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019 Jun 1

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Ceramics and Composites
  • Mechanics of Materials
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

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