Study on splitting of bamboo fibers due to freezing and tensile strength of FRTP using bamboo fibers

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine a new method to obtain fine bamboo fibers (fiber bundles), which are used to reinforce thermoplastics instead of glass fibers. The tensile strength of FRTP was also examined using polypropylene as the matrix and bamboo fibers as the reinforcement. In this study, two types of bamboo fibers were used. One was mechanically extracted fiber (crushed fiber) while the other was steam explosion fiber. These fibers were frozen in a freezer or liquid nitrogen in order to decrease only their diameter. By freezing bamboo fibers, some soft cells sticking on the fiber surface were well removed, but we could not reduce fiber diameter due to freezing even at cryogenic temperature. It is found that a satisfactory tensile strength of FRTP using bamboo fibers can be achieved when fine bamboo fibers smaller than 120 μm in diameter are used for injection molding.