Mechanical response to tensile stress of a composite material reinforced with sugar cane fibers

Abstract

Composite materials reinforced with organic fibers have attracted great interest in the area of mechanical engineering in recent decades due to the wide variety of industrial applications where these materials can be used, and the low impact on the environment, compared with traditional materials. In this work, experimental and numerical tests are carried out to investigate the mechanical response to a tensile load of a composite material with an epoxy matrix, reinforced with sugar cane fibers. Mechanical tests under the ASTM standard for tensile loads were performed. Then, a numerical model to investigate the mechanical response of the composite is done by finite element analysis. Results indicate that this composite material has good performance under axial loading conditions, and can be used for structural applications.