Natural Fiber Textile Structures Suitable for Composite Materials

Natural fiber-reinforced composites have drawn attention of the research community mainly because of their economical and environmental attractiveness. So far, the shortened natural fibers were mainly used as the reinforcement, but textile products like yarn and fabrics can improve mechanical properties of composite in a significant way. The objective of the investigation is to develop a textile material suitable for composite reinforcement based on flax fibers. Pure flax fabric as well as hybrid fabrics containing flax fibers and chemical fibers: Kevlar, glass fibers, and poliimid have been developed in order to meet requirements related to mechanical properties of composites. The results of the mechanical tests confirmed suitability of the flax fabrics as a composite reinforcement. Due to strongly hydrophilic properties of pure flax, composites reinforced by the hybrid fabrics with polyaramide or glass fibers showed evidently better mechanical properties (even by about 80%). Chemical modification of flax fabric results in the improvement in adhesion between fibers and matrix. The results obtained within the work show that chemically treated flax fiber can serve as a valuable reinforcement for polymer matrix composite material ensuring mechanical properties comparable to glass fibers.