A study of the effects of ingredients to the mechanical properties of natural fiber composites (NFC)

摘要

The importance of NFC (Natural Fiber Composite) as construction materials is widely accepted all over the world. But it seems that NFC manufacturers have complicated information about the effect of ingredients to their products. Hence systematic study for optimum composition of NFC is needed. This study is aimed to elucidate the effect of ingredients to the mechanical properties of NFC. We devised design of experiments to draw a firm conclusion. The experiments were conducted with polymer processing machines which are widely accepted in polymer processing industries. The result of ANOVA analysis showed that the most important ingredient of NFC is wood flour. And as the length of wood flour increases, the mechanical properties are enhanced. Contrary to wood flour, base resin has little effect to the mechanical properties of NFC. The effect of coupling agent to flexural modulus is not ignorable, but the effect to flexural strength is different from that of flexural modulus.