A Review of Flax Fiber Reinforced Thermoset Polymer Composites: Structure and Mechanical Performance

ABSTRACT

Flax is a natural fiber that possesses excellent specific properties, low density, safe to handle, eco-friendly, and easily available. These make it exceedingly popular and a potential candidate to replace synthetic reinforcements in polymer composite applications. The thermoset polymer is used for structural application due to its excellent mechanical and interface bonding properties compared to the thermoplastic polymer. Flax-based thermoset polymer composites are becoming popular among researchers for advanced industrial applications. This article is intended to offer a review of the main results presented in the literature on flax fiber-based polymer composites, focusing the attention on the fiber structure, chemical arrangement, physical and mechanical properties. Then, the mechanical performance of pure and hybrid flax fiber reinforced epoxy or polyester composites is comprehensively analyzed.

摘要

亚麻是一种天然纤维, 具有优良的特性、低密度、安全处理、环保和易获得. 这使得它非常受欢迎, 并成为聚合物复合材料应用中替代合成增强材料的潜在候选材料. 与热塑性聚合物相比, 热固性聚合物具有优异的机械和界面粘合性能, 因此可用于结构应用. 亚麻基热固性聚合物复合材料因其先进的工业应用而受到研究人员的欢迎. 本文对亚麻纤维基聚合物复合材料的主要研究成果进行了综述, 重点介绍了纤维结构、化学排列、物理力学性能等方面的研究成果. 然后, 对纯亚麻纤维和混杂亚麻纤维增强环氧或聚酯复合材料的力学性能进行了综合分析.

KEYWORDS:

• Flax fiber
• thermosets
• composites
• hybrid composites
• mechanical properties
• impact properties

Acknowledgments

The authors thankfully acknowledge the support of the Centre of Advanced and Functional Materials (AFM) and Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (via the graduate assistantship scheme).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by international collaborative research fund (015MEO-208).