Abstract
Biocomposites are increasingly used in the industry for the replacement of synthetic materials, thanks to their good mechanical properties, being lightweight, and having low cost. Unfortunately, in several potential fields of structural application their static strength and fatigue life are not high enough. For this reason, several chemical treatments on the fibers have been proposed in literature, although still without fully satisfactory results. To overcome this drawback, in this study we present a procedure based on the addition of a carbonaceous filler to a green epoxy matrix reinforced by Agave sisalana fibers. Among all carbon-based materials, biochar was selected for its environmental friendliness, along with its ability to improve the mechanical properties of polymers. Different percentages of biochar, 1, 2, and 4 wt %, were finely dispersed into the resin using a mixer and a sonicator, then a compression molding process coupled with an optimized thermomechanical cure process was used to produce a short fiber biocomposite with Vf = 35%. Systematic experimental tests have shown that the presence of biochar, in the amount 2 wt %, has significant effects on the matrix and fiber interphase, and leads to an increase of up to three orders of magnitude in the fatigue life, together with an appreciable improvement in static tensile strength.
Highlights
The use of composite materials reinforced by natural fibers is growing strongly in many industrial fields, in the automotive sector [1,2,3], and in the civil construction area [2] and in naval production [3]
The experimental evidence has shown that biocomposites reinforced by natural fibers present damage mechanisms [8,9,10,11,12,13] somewhat quite similar to those observed in traditional composites reinforced by synthetic fibers [14], as debonding, delamination, inter-fiber fractures and fiber fractures
The second phase is characterized by a saturation of transverse matrix cracks, transversal tensile failure and longitudinal inter fiber fractures
Summary
The use of composite materials reinforced by natural fibers is growing strongly in many industrial fields, in the automotive sector [1,2,3], and in the civil construction area [2] and in naval production [3]. As demonstrated by Woolf and co-workers [21], the implementation of biochar as soil additive contribute to the reduction in green-house gases emissions together, but biochar is far more than a mere soil amendment [22] It is a multifunctional platform for material science [23], as Mohanty and co-workers [24] clearly demonstrated for the production of performing composites. The effect of biochar produced from coffee waste stream was used as additive to epoxy biocomposites reinforced by Agave sisalana fibers (sisal). This fibrous materials combines remarkable mechanical properties together with a 75% greenhouse gas emissions compared with glass fibers [41]. Our aim is to produce a bioderived based high-performance polymer with an improved life durability for contribute to the mitigation of reinforced plastic effect on environment for applications in the automotive [42], civil construction [2,43], and naval [3] sectors
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