Alfa fibres: Mechanical, morphological and interfacial characterization

Paiva, Maria C.; Ammar, Imen Ben; Campos, Ana Rita; Cheikh, Ridha Ben; Cunha, António M.

doi:10.1016/j.compscitech.2006.05.019

Cited by 191 publications

(114 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Alpha-grass stalks had 45% alpha-cellulose, 24.1% gamma-cellulose, 23.4% lignin, 7.6% extractives, and 3.2% ash contents (w/w). This composition agreed with other published studies (Belkhir et al 2013;Ben Brahim and Ben Cheikh 2007;Marrakchi et al 2011;Nadji et al 2006;Paiva et al 2007). However, other researchers found lower lignin contents (Bouiri and Amrani 2010).…”

Section: Chemical Characterization Of the Alpha-grass Stalkssupporting

confidence: 93%

“…Taking this into account, TPS and AF densities of 1.3 and 1.375 g/cm 3 , respectively, were used to evaluate the volume fractions of the fibers. Other authors (Paiva et al 2007) obtained an intrinsic Young's modulus of 19 GPa for AF with a single strand tensile test, but they used single non-mould injected strands, and they did not specify its chemical composition. In Fig.…”

Section: Chemical Characterization Of the Alpha-grass Stalksmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, the most common current use of esparto-grass is in the production of fibers for high-quality lightweight paper (Belkhir et al 2013;Nada et al 2002). Despite the large number of works published concerning the use of fibers from plants as reinforcing agents, research devoted to alpha-fibers has remained limited (Abdelmouleh et al 2007;Paiva et al 2007;Valente Nabais et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High Stiffness Performance Alpha-Grass Pulp Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastic Starch-Based Fully Biodegradable Composites

Espinach¹,

Julián²,

Alcalà³

et al. 2013

BioResources

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Alpha-grass was studied as the reinforcement in a starch-based polymer matrix. Mater-bi®-Y was chosen as a matrix due to its Young's modulus, in line with that of polypropylene. The test specimens were injection molded and tensile tested. The obtained results were compared to glass fiber reinforced polypropylene. The reinforcing fibers increased the Young's modulus significantly, obtaining values up to 7.2 GPa, comparable to those obtained with reinforced polypropylene. The contribution of the fibers to the final composite Young's modulus was also studied, and it was found that was in line with other natural fibers contribution to polypropylene-based composites. Finally, it was found that the value of the efficiency factor of the module remained similar to that of natural fiber reinforced polypropylene.

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Section: Chemical Characterization Of the Alpha-grass Stalkssupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Chemical Characterization Of the Alpha-grass Stalksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High Stiffness Performance Alpha-Grass Pulp Fiber Reinforced Thermoplastic Starch-Based Fully Biodegradable Composites

Espinach¹,

Julián²,

Alcalà³

et al. 2013

BioResources

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show abstract

“…Nevertheless, at present, the most common utilization of esparto-grass comes from the production of fibers for high-quality lightweight paper (Nada et al 2002;Belkhir et al 2013). Despite the large number of works published regarding the use of fibers from plants as reinforcing agents, the research devoted to alpha-fibers remains very limited (Abdelmouleh et al 2007;Paiva et al 2007;Girones et al 2012;Valente Nabais et al 2013). In this work, we attempted to take advantage of the high toughness of esparto fibers to use them as the reinforcing element of a thermoplastic matrix.…”

Section: Peer-reviewed Articlementioning

confidence: 99%

High-Performance-Tensile-Strength Alpha-Grass Reinforced Starch-Based Fully Biodegradable Composites

Gironès¹,

Espinach²,

Pellicer³

et al. 2013

BioResources

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aThough there has been a great deal of work concerning the development of natural fibers in reinforced starch-based composites, there is still more to be done. In general, cellulose fibers have lower strength than glass fibers; however, their specific strength is not far from that of fiberglass. In this work, alpha-fibers were obtained from alpha-grass through a mild cooking process. The fibers were used to reinforce a starch-based biopolymer. Composites including 5 to 35% (w/w) alpha-grass fibers in their formulation were prepared, tested, and subsequently compared with those of wood-and fiberglass-reinforced polypropylene (PP). The term "high-performance" refers to the tensile strength of the studied composites and is mainly due to a good interphase, a good dispersion of the fibers inside the matrix, and a good aspect ratio. The tensile strength of the composites showed a linear evolution for fiber contents up to 35% (w/w). The strain at break of the composites decreased with the fiber content and showed the stiffening effects of the reinforcement. The prepared composites showed high mechanical properties, even approaching those of glass fiber reinforced composites. Keywords INTRODUCTIONIt is commonly accepted that biopolymers and bio-fibers have the potential to replace or reduce the consumption of fossil fuel-derived plastics. In addition, to facilitate the recycling of these materials, such replacement should lead to reductions in energy consumption, pollution, and CO 2 emissions. Hence, fiber-reinforced composites are often described as eco-friendly materials. However, the mechanical properties and/or the price of such composites have rendered them inadequate for many applications to date. In general, cellulosic fibers have inferior strength compared to their synthetic counterparts, such as aramid, carbon, and glass fibers.Due to their lower density, some natural fibers have a specific strength not far from those of fiberglass. On the other hand, bio-based matrices (such as polylactic acid or polyhydroxybutyrate) remain more expensive than petroleum-derived polymers. Nevertheless, thanks to their price/performance balance, ongoing innovations are offering new commercial opportunities for bio-based polymers and their composites in several applications. PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLEbioresources.com Gironès et al. (2013). "Alpha/starch composites," BioResources 8(4), 6121-6135 6122Compared to lactones, butyrates, valerates, and other monomers used for the synthesis of biodegradable polymers, starch is an inexpensive product whose transformation into a thermoplastic polymer can be accomplished in a rather straight-forward manner (Coombs and Hall 1998;Teixeira et al. 2007;Averous and Halley 2009;Dogossy and Czigany 2011;Gandini 2011). As a result, thermoplastic starch (TPS) is considered one of the most promising biopolymers for large-scale applications. During the last few decades, TPS has received considerable attention among the scientific world (John and Thomas 2008;Belhassen et al. 2009;Cañigueral et al. 2009;Cha...

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“…12). However, most of the studies reported in literature are focused on the use of mat which are the cheapest alternative (Paiva et al, 2004) among technical fabrics. Several studies showed that the random orientation of the fibres in mat fabrics leads to lowering of the reinforcing efficiency (Baiardo et al, 2004).…”

Section: Fig 8 Hemp Matmentioning

confidence: 99%