The elastic properties of unidirectional bamboo fibre reinforced epoxy composites

Abstract

Natural fibres such as kenaf, jute, bamboo, flax and wood have been the subject of intensive researches in the area of fibre reinforced composite due to their environmental advantages of being renewable, biodegradable and sustainable. Bamboo fibre can be a good choice of natural fibre reinforcement for structural applications due to its excellent strength to weight ratio that is comparable to that of mild steel. In this study, mechanical properties of both continuous and short bamboo fibre reinforced composites are predicted using micromechanical approaches. The finite element method was used where three-dimensional micromechanical representative volume element with square and hexagonal packing geometry was implemented. The results were then compared with the findings from analytical approach that includes the rule of mixture and the Halpin-Tsai model. It was found that for all properties, the FEM and analytical methods give comparable trends of property on volume fraction plots. Furthermore, the longitudinal modulus given by all models are in excellent agreement as it increases linearly with the increase in bamboo fibre volume fraction.