Fabrication and mechanical properties of braided flax fabric polylactic acid bio-composites

Abstract

This paper primarily describes the development of flax braided yarn fabric reinforced thermoplastic composites. Plain woven fabric is made by interlacing 3D braided yarn produced by solid braiding method. Tensile properties of braided yarn and woven fabric are evaluated. Solution casting is used prior to composite fabrication to prepare polylactic acid (PLA) and (natural fiber braided fabric) NFBF–PLA sheets. Followed by this, composite laminates are prepared using through film stacking and compression molding. Influence of number of layers of fabric and loading along warp and weft directions on mechanical properties such as tensile, flexural and impact properties are presented. It is observed that the reinforcement enhances the tensile, flexural and impact properties of the composite significantly for the warp loading. Results also clearly indicates that braided yarn fabric reinforcement have the potential for significant improvement of mechanical and thermal properties of PLA composites.

Keywords:

• Braided yarn
• woven fabric
• PLA
• biodegradable composites
• mechanical properties

Acknowledgements

Authors wishes to acknowledge Prof. Narendranath, Material Characterisation Lab, NITK Surathkal, for providing testing facilities and Prof. S M Kulkarni, FIST Composite Centre, NITK, Surathkal, for providing composite fabrication facilities.

Disclosure statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.