Surface modification of flax fibers for manufacture of engineering thermoplastic biocomposites

Abstract

The aim of this feasibility study is to develop application-oriented natural fiber-reinforced biocomposites with improved mechanical and durability performance. The biocomposites were manufactured via a film-stacking process of epoxy-coated flax textiles and polyamide 6 (PA6). The fabricated biocomposites were subjected to thermo-oxidative ageing for 250, 500 and 1000 h and tested with regard to tensile properties. The results show that the biocomposites with epoxy-coated flax fibers possess considerably higher tensile properties compared with the reference specimens under all tested conditions.