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Mechanical performance of hybrid bast and basalt fibers reinforced polymer composites

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Abstract

With increasing limitation of petrochemical resources, there is a growing demand for the replacement of nonrenewable fiber-reinforced polymer composites by renewable polymer composites. Therefore, the aim of this research work was to improve the mechanical properties of bast (plant) fibers reinforced polymer composites without reducing their renewable material content. To achieve this goal, basalt fibers (natural mineral fibers) were used to partially substitute the amount of bast fibers in the polymer composites. The applied fibers were processed to semi-finished materials by carding and needle punching and processed further by afterwards press-molding. An intense optimization of the carding process led to the production of homogeneous fabrics based on various types of fibers (bast, basalt and PP). The homogeneity of the fabrics was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis of the composites. Several composites based on polypropylene and acrylate thermoset resin, reinforced with merely bast fibers, were prepared as reference. In the next steps, the bast fiber content of the reference compositions was partially replaced by basalt fibers. The compression-molded samples were tested for their flexural, tensile, and impact energy properties. The very positive finding was that the addition of basalt fibers not just improved significantly the strength and stiffness of the composites, but simultaneously increased the properties of the composites regarding energy absorption, a key requirement in the automotive industry. The fracture surface analysis confirmed a better fiber matrix adhesion in thermoset composites compared to thermoplastic composites. The tested renewable hybrid polymer composites have great potential to replace nonrenewable fiber-reinforced polymer composites.

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Acknowledgements

Authors would like to thank the company J. Dittrich & Söhne Vliesstoffwerk GmbH for supplying the bast fibers as well as the thermoset resin. Many thanks to the company Fibtex GmbH and Beaulieu International Group, Belgium for providing basalt and polypropylene fibers, respectively. Special thanks to Prof. Schuster, at University of Applied Sciences, Kaiserslautern for providing his lab facilities for mechanical analysis. Finally, we would like to thank the Institute für Verbundwerkstoffe GmbH in Kaiserslautern for providing the SEM pictures of the composites.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Applied Sciences, Kaiserslautern, Germany

    Anjum Saleem & Luisa Medina

  2. Swedish Centre for Resource Recovery, Faculty of Textiles, Engineering and Business, University of Borås, Borås, Sweden

    Mikael Skrifvars

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  1. Anjum Saleem
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  2. Luisa Medina
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Correspondence to Anjum Saleem.

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Saleem, A., Medina, L. & Skrifvars, M. Mechanical performance of hybrid bast and basalt fibers reinforced polymer composites. J Polym Res 27, 61 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-020-2028-6

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