Sustainable Manufacture of Natural Fibre Reinforced Epoxy Resin Composites with Coupling Agent in the Hardener
JOURNAL OF COMPOSITES SCIENCE(2022)
Abstract
Lignocellulosic natural fibres are hydrophilic, while many matrix systems for composites are hydrophobic. The achievement of good mechanical properties for natural fibre-reinforced polymer (NFRP) matrix composites relies on good fibre-to-matrix bonding at the interface. The reinforcement is normally coated with an amphiphilic coupling agent to promote a strong interface. A novel alternative approach is to dissolve the coupling agent in the hardener for the resin before creating the stoichiometric mix with the base epoxy resin. During composite manufacture, the hydrophilic (polar) end of the coupling agent migrates to surfaces (internal interfaces) and bonds to the fibres. The hydrophobic (non-polar) end of the coupling agent remains embedded in the mixed resin. Mechanical testing of composite samples showed that silane added directly to the matrix produced a NFRP composite with enhanced longitudinal properties. As pre-process fibre coating is no longer required, there are economic (shorter process times), environmental (elimination of contaminated solvents) and social (reduced worker exposure to chemical vapours) benefits arising from the new technique.
MoreTranslated text
Key words
coupling agent,epoxy resin,hardener,interface,natural fibre
AI Read Science
Must-Reading Tree
Example
![](https://originalfileserver.aminer.cn/sys/aminer/pubs/mrt_preview.jpeg)
Generate MRT to find the research sequence of this paper
Chat Paper
Summary is being generated by the instructions you defined