Static, dynamic and impact properties of a high-performance flax-fiber composite

Abstract

As environmental issues become increasingly relevant nowadays, the need to develop new materials entirely or partially based on renewable resources is one fundamental step to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and CO2 emissions. In that sense, natural fiber composites might represent an environmentally sustainable alternative to conventional solutions such as glass and carbon fiber composites, standard today for many lightweight structural applications; however, solutions are several and diverse in terms of technological process, base materials, mechanical properties, and analysis of their behaviour, necessary for safe industrial use, is still lacking for most resin-fiber combinations. Consequently, this work presents a comprehensive material characterization of a flax-fiber reinforced composite material, analyzing both the static and dynamic mechanical performances, targeting future crashworthiness applications. In particular static tensile, compressive, flexural and shear properties were investigated, while low-speed indentation, high strain-rate tensile and ballistic tests were carried out to probe the dynamic and impact features.