WEIBULL ANALYSIS OF THE DENSITY OF RAMIE FIBERS WITH DIFFERENT DIAMETERS

摘要

The ramie fiber (Boehmeria Nivea) is one of the strongest lignocellulosic fibers with applications going from simple fabrics and ropes to engineering composites like door panels and dash panel in automobiles. Despite environmental, economical and social advantages, the natural fibers are not as uniform both in dimensions and properties as compared to the synthetic fibers. Characterization of the ramie fiber has recently been conducted for physical and mechanical properties. In principle, thinner ramie fiber could be comparatively stronger and consequently more effective as a composite reinforcement. In the present work, a possible correlation between the density and the fiber diameter was investigated by means of precise measurements in a profile projector. The results were analyzed by the Weibull statistical method. An inverse linear correlation was found for the density and the fiber diameter. SEM observations of tensile fractured ramie fibers indicated that this correlation is related to defects associated with microfibril structure.