Published: 30 June 2012

Comparison of the mechanical properties of flax and glass fiber composite materials

Garip Genc1
Ali El Hafidi2
Papa Birame Gning3
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Abstract

In this paper, the comparison of static and dynamic properties of flax and glass fiber composite materials is presented. For this comparison, dynamic and quasi-static experimental studies were carried out. As a dynamic test, vibration tests were fulfilled using the Oberst apparatus and the tensile test was fulfilled by a quasi-static test. The vibration tests were carried out under different temperatures by using temperature and climatic test cabinets. Flax and glass fibers were used as reinforcements, and polyester resin was used as a matrix to make up the composite specimens. According to the obtained results, the strength of flax fiber composite is lower than the glass fiber under tensile loading, but approximately the same under vibration excitation. On the other hand, damping characteristics of flax fiber composite is higher than glass fiber composite materials. These results demonstrated that natural fiber materials can be used instead of chemical materials for vibration absorption due to their high damping.

About this article

Received
30 January 2012
Accepted
14 May 2012
Published
30 June 2012
Keywords
flax fiber
glass fiber
Young’s modulus
vibration
damping