Evaluation of quasi-isotropic plate and cylindrical shell fabricated with green composite sheets

Abstract

Conventional fiber reinforced plastics (FRPs) have some problems in the case of disposal. Their combustion disposal discharges the carbon dioxide in the air because resins of FRPs are made of fossil fuel. In the case of disposal into the ground, these FRPs remain semi-permanently without decomposing. Therefore, green composites are now developed and are studied as one of less the environmental burden materials. In this study, two kinds of continuous green composite sheets, which were composed of Kenaf fibers or Linen fibers as reinforcement and biodegradable poly butylene succinate (PBS) resin as a matrix, were fabricated with a pultrusion molding. Since the PBS resin is a thermoplastic resin, the PBS/KENAF or PBS/LINEN composite sheets can be treated as intermediate materials such as Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic prepregs. In order to apply the PBS/KENAF or PBS/LINEN composite sheets to structural components, quasi-isotropic plates and cylindrical shells were fabricated and evaluated.