Development of Bio-composite Reinforced by Sugarcane Fibres

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to develop a multifunctional sugarcane fibres reinforced epoxy porous composite combining good acoustic and mechanical properties. The study of the bagasse fibres geometry has shown that fibres’ length and diameter distribution can be fitted by lognormal laws. Composites manufactured by thermo-compression process with an epoxy matrix were characterized using an experimental design whose parameters were the diameter of the fibres (between 0.5 and 4 mm) and their mass ratio (between 40 and 70 %). The study of acoustic properties showed that the sound absorption increases with the diameter of the fibres, while decreasing with their mass proportion, over a frequency range between 500 and 1000 Hz. Mechanical characterisation by bending tests, has shown a fragile behaviour, with deviations of stiffness and maximum stress around 36 %. The stereo-correlation image analysis confirmed the heterogeneity of the strain fields throughout the thickness, in relation to the fracture observation.