Quantitative analysis of the effect of fiber dispersion on the mechanical properties of natural fiber composites

摘要

For the materials used in this study, compression molded specimens had higher tensile modulus than injection molded specimens for a given mass fraction of fibres up to around 40% mass fraction. This is likely due to the improved fibre orientation in the compression molding process. The quantification of fibre surface area revealed that the injection molded specimens had better fibre dispersion than compression molded specimens. This may explain the similar tensile modulus at higher volume fractions between compression and injection molded specimens, where the negative effect of poor fibre orientation and void formation was offset by better fibre dispersion.