Hollow canola-wood thermoset composites from concept to completion: fabrication, performance, failure and reliability analysis

Abstract

This study aims to reinforce wood particle composite structures with novel lightweight hollow Topas canola fibres (Brassica napus L.). The feasibility of methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (MEKP)-cured hybrid composite structures of canola and wood biomass is demonstrated in the current study. By employing a facile fabrication technique under ambient conditions, different hybrid canola composite structures are fabricated with randomly distributed fibre polymer reinforcements and synthetic resin matrix. Hybridization process involves the incorporation of hollow canola fibres and wood biomass to yield better mechanical performance including breaking strength, flexural rigidity, and strength to weight ratio. The produced hybrid composites can outperform pristine heavyweight wood composites, exhibiting superior flexural strength up to 6.4 (± 2.5) Pa-m 4 of flexural rigidity and 728.35 (± 242) N of breaking load with the extra feature of lower wood content. The hybrid composite structure exhibited a modulus of elasticity up to 8.76 GPa exhibiting ~ 6% higher stiffness than the pristine wood composites. Also, the diameter (84.30 ± 38.04 μm) of the canola fibres is coarse enough for composite fabrication. This confirms the effective contribution of canola fibres to the flexural properties of hybrid composite structures. Further, the two-parameter Weibull mathematical model is applied for failure (R 2 ≥ 0.92) and reliability (R 2 ≥ 0.93) analysis. The constructed probability distribution curves predict probabilistic composite failures against ranges of bending deflection. The intrinsic hollow interior of the novel canola fibre opens new doors for self-healing natural fibre-based composite fabrication. Such lightweight composite structures can find promising applications in technical textiles, including the interior panels of automotive, aerospace, furniture, and the construction industry.

Electronic Textile Sensors for Decoding Vital Body Signals: State‐of‐the‐Art Review on Characterizations and Recommendations

“…Natural fiber polymers are always pretreated with alkaline scouring and H 2 O 2 chemicals to improve wettability, eliminate impurities (oil, wax, fat, etc., added during fabrication process), and improve flexibility. [163][164][165][166][167] Synthetic polymers are also pretreated, although they are free from natural impurities. For example, nylon filaments are alkali-scoured with surfactants and soda ash (Na 2 CO 3 ) at 70 C to remove the spin finishes, lubricants and PVA residues or other synthetic size materials on woven fabrics.…”

Probabilistic model for cattail and canola fibers: effect of environmental conditions, structural parameters, fiber length, and estimators

“…8,9,16 The major advantages and environmental benefits of waste biomass cattail and canola fibers are their abundance, [12][13][14] lower density, 1,8,15 higher fiber yield percentage, 1,8,9 and lower greenhouse gas emissions 17 when compared with traditional BFs such as flax and hemp. Furthermore, the production of green composites from cattail 18 and canola 19 fibers have been reported.…”

“…42,43 Weibull distribution has also been used to determine the effect of water 44 on the performance of BFs, and the effect of three different heat treatments on the fracture strength of materials was investigated. 45 Previously, Shuvo et al (2021) 46 and Shuvo (2020) 19 applied a two-parameter Weibull model to predict the probabilistic composite failures manufactured from canola fibers against a wide range of compressive loads and bending deflection, respectively. However, these studies did not use a probabilistic Weibull model to address the challenges associated with large variation in mechanical properties of fibers and predict a reliable model for different RH conditions and different fiber lengths.…”