Performance of interlaminar flax-carbon hybrids under bending

Abstract

Fibers derived from plants are sustainable and environmentally friendly. Their mechanical properties, however, are generally much lower than synthetic fibers, such as carbon. This has been a leading cause for their limited usage in many engineering applications. For natural fibres to find its way into semi-structural applications, significant improvements in mechanical properties are necessary. Towards this end, we investigate the performance enhancement achievable through hybridization with high strength and high stiffness carbon fibres in this work. Results showed that with just 14% of carbon fibers in flax-carbon epoxy hybrid, flexural stiffness can be increased by up to 5.5 times, and strength 2.7 times. This demonstrates the potential of natural-synthetic hybridization even at low volume fraction of synthetic fibers. The effects of stacking sequences on performance under bending were also investigated and the reliability of using Classical Lamination Theory (CLT) to predict flexural modulus of hybrid carbon-flax was assessed. © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.