Study of the tensile and compression performance of composite materials based on rubber particles and alpha fibers

Abstract

This paper deals with the characterization of some composite materials developed using rubber matrix reinforced with short Alfa fibers. This work aims at studying the performance of Alfa-rubber composites using mechanical and physical characterizations. We opted for the study of the behavior in tension and compression of our samples as part of the mechanical characterization. The results we get show that these natural fibers contribute enormously to the composite properties such as breaking strength and elongation at break. Indeed, substantial increased values (50.82% and 54.38%) of the breaking strength and elongation at break are gained. However, based on the obtained findings, decreasing the filler loading value widely improves the developed material performance. On the other hand, compression test showed that the developed material is not affected by this constraint (compression stress). The results showed that the material is well designed to be resistant to compression strain. When we compared the three types of rubber particle used, we deduced that the developed composite samples using smaller particles powder like (type B) present better appearance and better behavior than those obtained using granulated particles (types A and C).