Abstract
The work on cellulose fiber composites is typically strictly divided into two separated research fields depending on the fiber origin, that is, from wood and from annual plants, representing the two different industries of forest and agriculture, respectively. The present paper evaluates in parallel wood fibers and plant fibers to highlight their similarities and differences regarding their use as reinforcement in composites and to enable mutual transfer of knowledge and technology between the two research fields. The paper gives an introduction to the morphology, chemistry, and ultrastructure of the fibers, the modeling of the mechanical properties of the fibers, the fiber preforms available for manufacturing of composites, the typical mechanical properties of the composites, the modeling of the mechanical properties with focus on composites having a random fiber orientation and a non-negligible porosity content, and finally, the moisture sensitivity of the composites. The performance of wood and plant fiber composites is compared to the synthetic glass and carbon fibers conventionally used for composites, and advantages and disadvantages of the different fibers are discussed.
Highlights
Composites based on cellulose fibers from wood and plants constitute a relatively new and promising class of composite materials [1,2,3,4]
The raw materials producers in this case, that is, forestry for wood fibers and agriculture for plant fibers, have developed their specific technologies along the value chain to produce fibers depending on the traditional usage of the fibers
In view of the maturing research field of cellulose fibers shifting towards achieving the technical performance demands of the end-users, and the rather independent existence of research communities of wood and plant fibers, respectively, this paper has been written to shed some further light on the similarities and differences of these two types of cellulose fibers, with regard to industrial usage to produce cellulose fiber composites for structural applications
Summary
Composites based on cellulose fibers from wood and plants constitute a relatively new and promising class of composite materials [1,2,3,4]. Altogether, the cell wall of wood and plant fibers is essentially organized like a composite laminate with a number of laminae with differently oriented, stiff and strong semicrystalline cellulose microfibrils embedded in a matrix of hemicellulose and lignin. The influence of growth conditions and processing treatments on the chemistry and ultrastructure of cellulose fibers lead typically to fibers with more variable properties than seen for synthetic fibers This is frequently considered to be one of the major disadvantages of using cellulose fibers for reinforcement in composites. It should be mentioned that variability in mechanical properties of fibers can have a positive effect on the notch sensitivity and the fracture toughness of composites [15, 16]
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