Critical fibre length and apparent interfacial shear strength

• Published in: Advanced Composites Letters (UK) Vol. 7; no. 3; pp. 81 - 85
• Main Authors: van den Oever, M J A, Bos, H L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.01.1998
• ISSN: 0963-6935

The stress transfer in both elementary and technical single flax fiber polypropylene composites is studied by determining the critical fiber length and the apparent interfacial shear strength. The influence of improved fiber-matrix interaction is reported and the results are compared with data from literature. The study indicates that the critical fiber length for elementary flax fibers is equal to or even higher than the flax fiber lengths found after extrusion and injection moulding processes. Furthermore, addition of maleic anhydridy modified polypropylene to the matrix results in an apparent interfacial shear strength for elementary flax fibers close to the shear yield strength of the matrix, for technical fibers the interfacial shear strength is somewhat lower.