Recent investigations on the tensile properties of natural cellulose-based fibers revealed an increasing potential as engineering materials. This is particularly the case of very thin fibers of some species such as sisal, ramie, and curaua. However, several other commonly used fibers such as flax, jute, hemp, coir, cotton, and bamboo as well as less known bagasse, piassava, sponge gourde, and buriti display tensile properties that could qualify them as engineering materials. An overview of the strength limits attained by these fibers is presented. Based on a tensile strength vs density chart, it is shown that natural fibers stand out as a relevant class of engineering materials.
The jute fiber is one of the strongest lignocellulosic fibers with applications ranging from simple items such as fabrics and ropes to engineering composites for automobile parts and building panels. Like other lignocellulosic fibers, the jute may have an inverse strength dependence with its diameter. In principle, thinner jute fiber could be comparatively stronger and consequently more effective as a composite reinforcement. Therefore, an attempt to correlate the jute fiber strength obtained in tensile test with its corresponding diameter, precisely measured by means of a profile projector, was carried out. A Weibull statistical analysis confirmed the inverse dependence between the jute fiber tensile strength and the corresponding fiber diameter. Scanning electron microscopy observation of the fracture of selected ruptured fiber revealed possible mechanisms that could justify the strength/diameter inverse dependence.
By means of dimensional selection of natural lignocellulosic fibers, based on precise diameter measurements, it was recently possible to obtain fibers with relatively higher tensile strength. The present article overviews works on the statistical evaluation, through the Weibull analysis, of the ultimate tensile stress of eight lignocellulosic fibers: sisal, ramie, curaua, jute, bamboo, coir, piassava and buriti. It is shown that, for all of these fibers, the tensile strength holds an inverse relationship with the fiber diameter. Statistically this relationship conforms to a hyperbolic type of analytical equation, which discloses the possibility of unusually high strength fibers to be selected in association with very small diameters. A structural analysis using scanning electron microscopy offered an explanation to the strengthening mechanisms responsible for the superior performance of these dimensionally selected fibers.
The world is ever more demanding materials that are not only less intensive in terms of processing energy but also environmentally friendly. Presently, issues like generalized pollution and global warming are renewing the interest of natural materials in substitution for synthetic ones. In fact, natural lignocellulosic fibers are today the subject of a growing number of studies. In particular, the jute fiber, has been investigated by various mechanical and thermal analyses. With the intention to further characterize this fiber, a specific method was considered in this work, the infrared spectroscopy. The Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) was used to reveal the most typical absorption bands of specific molecular components of jute fibers, in order to understand the interaction that occurs between the jute fiber and a polymer matrix.
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