Effect of short natural fibers length and weight fraction on the mode I fracture toughness of epoxy-based composites

In this research, Kenaf short fibers were used to reinforce the epoxy-based composites. The effect of fiberlength and the weight fraction of fibers on the mode I fracture toughness of the Kenaf short fiber reinforced compositeswere investigated. Five values of fiber length of ۵, ۱۵ and ۲۵ mm and three amounts of weight fraction of ۱۰, ۲۰ and۳۰% were considered. The results displayed that at any certain fiber length, by increasing the weight fraction, the modeI fracture toughness is enhanced. It must be mentioned that the with increasing the weight fraction from ۱۰ to ۲۰%, themode I fracture toughness is increased significantly. Whereas, less improvement was obtained as the fiber weightfraction enhanced from ۲۰ to ۳۰%. The most improvement in fracture toughness (around ۲۷۰%) was resulted for thesample reinforced by the Kenaf fiber with the length of ۱۵mm and the weight fraction of ۳۰%.

کلیدواژه ها:

Short fiber ، epoxy ، mode I fracture toughness ، Kenaf