Tensile and impact properties of two fiber configurations for curaua reinforced composites

Abstract

Natural fibers have been extensively investigated in the past decades, due to their good properties, lightweight, low cost and renewable nature. From the ananas erectifolius plant, high strength and high modulus curaua fibers can be obtained. Their remarkable properties make them adequate to several high performance applications. In the present work, tensile and impact properties of two fiber configurations for curaua reinforced composites were investigated: a non-woven fiber fabric (NWFF) and high percentage continuous and aligned fiber (HPCAF) composites, using epoxy and polyester as polymeric matrix, respectively. The results showed that the fabric configuration does not effectively reinforce the polymer on tensile load, in spite of promoting significant improvement on the impact properties of the composite. The latter configuration results in both high strength and tough composites, however, its ability to resist to impacts depends on the direction of load.