ISSN:
1662-8985
Source:
Scientific.Net: Materials Science & Technology / Trans Tech Publications Archiv 1984-2008
Topics:
Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Production Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy, Traffic Engineering, Precision Mechanics
Notes:
Confocal microscopy and water diffusivity measurements were used to characterise thedevelopment of defects in biofibre-reinforced composite materials. Biofibres swelled more than thematrix when the specimen was immersed in water, but the associated distortion of the matrix rarelycaused defects. The biofibres shrank faster than the matrix when the specimen was dried in air,causing debonding at the fibre-matrix interfaces and microcracks within the fibres. We started withcoarse technical fibres from the leaves of harakeke (Phormium tenax), treated a portion with 1%NaOH, and pulped a portion at 170 °C. Water diffusivities for the corresponding compositesincreased over the first 3 wet-dry cycles, particularly for the composite made with untreated fibre,but were too small to be of concern for the composite made from pulped fibre
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://www.tib-hannover.de/fulltexts/2011/0528/01/40/transtech_doi~10.4028%252Fwww.scientific.net%252FAMR.29-30.287.pdf
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