Development of Composites

Based on Natural Fibers

M.T. Ton-That & J. Denault
Industrial Materials Institute
The Institute of Textile Science
Ottawa, ON
April 13, 2007

Presentation outline
Opportunities with natural fibres
Challenges of natural fibre composites
Canadian Natural Fibre Initiative on
Flax and hemp fibre biocomposites
Conclusions

Polymer Composites
Polymer Composites = Reinforced Plastics
Reinforcing phase
Reinforcement usually has much greater mechanical properties and
serves as the principal load-carrying members.

Reinforcing effect determined by interface, aspect ratio, distribution

and orientation
The matrix
Plays a role of a binder to keep the fibers in a desired location and
orientation.
Transfers load to the fiber through the fiber-matrix interface.
Protects fiber from environmental damage.

The fiber-matrix interface plays a decided role on the transformation

of load from the matrix to the fiber.
Composites are more favourable than plastics

Eco-Composites:
Composites of The Future
Respond to the needs of materials in the 21st century

To
To cope
cope with
with limitation
limitation of
of petroleum
petroleum supply
supply

To
To cope
cope with
with environmental
environmental pollution
pollution concern
concern

Economically favourable composites made of

Sustainable
ustainable crop-derived
crop-derived plastics
plastics

Inexpensive
Inexpensive crop-derived
crop-derived fibres
fibres as
as reinforcement
reinforcement

Case of success

Natural
Natural fibers:
fibers: wood,
wood, hemp,
hemp, flax,
flax, kenaf
kenaf

Bio-based
Bio-based polymer:
polymer: PLA
PLA from
from corn
corn and
and sweet
sweet potato
potato

Attention: bio-based
products are not always
sustainable

Natural Fibres vs
Synthetic Fibres
Bast Fibres: Flax, Hemp, Kenaf, Abaca, Banana,
Bamboo, Jute, Totora
Leaf Fibres: Sisal, Curaua, Fique, Phormium, Palm
trees, Caroa, Kurowa, Pineapple
Seed Fibres: Cotton, Capok
Fruit Fibres: Coir, African palm
Wood Fibres: soft & hard wood

Natural
fibres

100
80
Price
(cent/lb) 60
40

Wood
fiber

CaCO3

Natural
fibers

Fiber
glass

20

NF Composites in
North American

NF composites market

Driving force:
purely economic
Million lb

The market for NF composites in North

America: mainly for construction
2000 = 200,000 tonnes
2005 = 3X

400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0

Other natural
fibers
Wood fiber

1980

1990

2000

Construction
applications
Toronto Broad walk

Deck

Mighty Mount Rusmore

Play ground

Construction
applications
Siding and soffit products

Pool

Marina

NF composites in Europe
Consummation in tone of natural fibres in
automotive industry in Europe

Driving force: Government Legislation

Recycling concerns being driven by EU regulations end of life
vehicle disposal: Jan 1st, 2005: 80 wt%; Jan 1st, 2015: 85 wt%
GHG emission limit and tax incentive

Automotive Parts Made

of NF Composites
Volkswagen: back of seats,door panels, trunk panels
(Golf, Passat, Variant, Bora, Fox, Polo)
Audi: back of seats, side panels, trunk covering,
speakers holders (A2, A4, Avant, A6, A6 Avant, A8)
BMW: door panels, headliners, trunk floor panel (Serie
3, 5 and 7)
Daimler Chrysler: door panels, business tables,
padding-pillars reinforcing, dashboard parts (Class A,
C, E and S)
Opel: headliners, door panels, dashboard parts (Astra,
Vectra, Zafira)
Peugeot: back of seats, trunk coverings (406-607)
Renault: rear shelf (Clio, Twingo)
Mercedes Benz trucks: front sections for the trucks.
HSK LS 1938, internal engine cover, insulation for the
engine, sun-blades, interior insulation and bumper.
HPN L 1622 -internal insulation;
wheel box; roof; and back cover.

Automotive Parts Made

of NF Composites

Advantages of Natural
Fibre Reinforcement
Renewable source of raw material
Biodegradable
Sustainable?
Excellent specific strength and high modulus
High flexural and tensile modulus -up to 5base resin, high
notched impact strength -up to 2base resin

Reduced density of products

Lower cost
Reduced tool wear
Safe manufacturing processes
No airborne glass particles, relief from occupational hazards.
Reduced dermal and respiratory irritation and no emission of toxic
fumes when subjected to heat and incineration

Challenges of Natural
Fibre Reinforcement
Challenges
Concerns over fibre consistency/quality
Low impact strength (high concentration of fibre defects)
Problem of stocking raw material for extended time
Possibility of degradation, biological attack of fungi and mildew
Foul odor development

Fibres are hydrophilic

Issues of compatibility with polymers: fibre-matrix interface and fibre
dispersion challenges
Sensitive to humidity

UV resistance not better than plastics

Fibre degradation during processing
Fibre orientation and distribution

Solutions
Fibre treatments
Compatibilization
Textile technologies: mat and fabric structures

Composite Evolution
Structural Composites

Platform
1950
Technologies

Structural composites
Thermosets

and materials

1980-2000
Thermoplastics
Nanocomposites

2005
Biocomposites
Nanocomposites
Biobased polymers

Industrial
Sectors

Microelectronics
Ground transportation
Aerospace

Biomedical
Transportation
Construction
Energy
Sport
Environment
Aerospace
Packaging

Natural Fibres in Canada

National level: federal government: sustainable economy
Bio-fibres to produce value-added products: chemicals, textile, composites, etc
Agriculture and Agri-food Canada: 145 M$ funding for this year alone: multidisciplinary research (soil, genetic modification, refinery, extraction, processing)
Canadian biomass innovative network (CBIN)
Carbonhydrate: starch (wheet, corn, etc)
Oil: canola
Cellulose: flaxseed fibres and hemp
Present acttraction: triticale corp in Western Canada (carbonhydrate and cellulose)

Local level:

AB: BioAlberta, AVAC

NB: BioAtlantech
SK: Flax Canada 2015
ON: Bioproducts Business Network, AUTO 21, Ontario Agri-Food Technologies (OAFT),
QC: Centre qubcoise de valorisation des biotechnologies
BC: BioProducts BC
BIOCAP

Natural Fibres Initiative for

Biochemicals and Biomaterials

AAFC

Kemestrie

Saskflax
NRC-PBI

Biolin

Feedstock
Producer
John Baker
(Stone Hedge
Hemp)

BioEnergy/ BioFuel

NRC-BRI

Harvest +
PostHarvest

Preparation of
Feedstock

Seed Oils
Process Heat

BioMaterials

Biolin
Saskflax

Black boxes Industry

Research Contributions
Red boxes Project
Modules

Module 1

Processing of
Fibers
Two methods:
1 Enzymatic
2 Green
Mechanical/Chemical
Two Primary Tracks
1 - For Fibre
2 - For Biochemicals

NRC-IBS

TRACK 1 Biocomposites

NRC-BRI

End Users (Private Sector)

NRC-ICPET

TRACK 2 BioChemicals
such as ferulic acid

NRC-ICPET

Module 2
AAFC

Biopolymers

NRC-IBS

Ferulic Acid
Platform

Module 3

Module 5
NRC-IMI

NRC-BRI
NRC-IMI

Module 4

Composite Innovation
Centre (Links to Boeing,
Dow BioProducts and
others), Biolin, Hemptown

Related
CBIN
Threads

GHG
Reduction

NRC-IMI
NRC-BRI
NRC-ICPET

Biocomposites
Objectives
Development flax (hemp) fiber composites and
applications based on synthetic (PP) and biobased
(PLA) polymers
Improvement of processability
Improvement in mechanical properties, humidity resistance
and flammability resistance

Evaluation of the performance of value-added

products coming from recycling sources
Use of recycled plastics

Processing
Extrusion: short fibre
Injection moulding: short fibre
Compression moulding: short, long, continuous,
matt, fabric
Flax
composite
compound

Mat or fabric construction

Compression moulding
Thermo-forming

Dried blend
of flax,
polymer and
additives

NF Composites

IMI Patented technology licensed to

Formulation based CaO additive

5000

75
Modulus

65
3000
55
2000
45
1000

35
Recycled PP

Licensed technology applied to transportation and

construction sectors

Wood
com posite

IMI 's
com posite

Increase of
material cost
(%)

Improvement in flexural
performance
(%)

3.6

28

* Compared with commercial system

Flexural stress (MPa)

Flexural modulus (MPa)

Stress

4000

Roles of CaO
CaO
Absorbs humidity in wood
Neutralizes acidity in wood
minimize degradation during processing
Reacts with maleic anhydride group of coupling agent
Improve interface between wood and PP matrix
Increase molecular weight of coupling agent
Limit a loss in toughness and impact

Thermal and
flammability resistance
Improvement of the thermal resistance
Slow down the burning process of the composites since
the burning rate of the sample with CaO at 1 min (L1)
and 5min (L5) is smaller than that of the REF.
No

T10%

T20%

(oC)

(oC)

Weight loss
at 500oC

No

L1

L5

(mm)

(mm)

No CaO

12

65

10% CaO

36

(wt%)
No CaO

334

364

91

10% CaO

346

398

73

Recycling
Wood-PP composites (with maleic anhydride coupling
agent and CaO) can be reground, extruded and
injection moulded 3 times without important loss of
performance
6500

30

6000

28

5500

26

5000

24

4500
1st process 2nd process 3rd process

Unotched Izod impact strength

2
(kJ/m )

Tensile strength (MPa)

Strength
Modulus

110

Tensile modulus (MPa)

32

100

90

80

70
1st process

2nd process

3rd process

Flax Fiber Composites

Compression moulding

40

7000
5500

35
4000
2500

25

1000

30
%

30
%

FL
AX

FL
A
X+
PB
30
31
%
50
FL
A
X+
EP
30
30
15
%
FL
30
AX
%
+E
FL
43
AX
+E
43
+C
aO

30

Modulus and strength of the composites improve significantly with the

presence of coupling agent
Type of coupling agent also plays an important role
The presence of CaO provide a great increase in modulus

Tensile modulus (MPa)

Strength
Modulus

PP

Tensile strength (MPa)

45

Interface
No coupling agent
Very poor interaction between the fiber and the matrix

Interface
With coupling agent and CaO
Good interface

Mechanical properties

Strength

35.00

Modulus

4000

30.00

3000

25.00

2000

20.00

1000
PP

30% FLAX +E43

+CaO

5000

Tensile modulus (MPa)

Tensile strength (MPa)

40.00

Izod impact strength (kJ/m )

Injection moulding
18.00

15.00

12.00

9.00

6.00
PP

30% FLAX
+E43 +CaO

Flax fibres improved significantly the performance of PP, but the

properties can be further improved
Fibre retting and the fibre isolation process is not optimized
Flax composite processes are not optimized

It should be interesting to work with flax fabric as reinforcement

Conclusions
Natural fibres like wood, ricehusk and flax can improve
significantly the polymer performance
The composite properties are determined by many different
factor: fibre source, formulation, processing equipment and
processing parameters
The incorporation of some selective mineral fillers can greatly
improves the thermal and the flammability resistance, the
stiffness and the impact properties without sacrifying the
strength.
Forms as continuous fibres and fabric should be of great
interest for producing high performance composites!

Opportunity of textile
industry in composites
Mass productions
Transformation of NFs into different forms of reinforcement for
composites, such as unidirectional NFs, NF fabrics, NF matt, comingle of NFs and synthetic polymer fibres, at low cost and low energy
consumption
Hybrid of NFs or NF and synthetic fibres
Fibre treatment to improve performance and overcome limitation

Special applications
Functionality: surface coating (thermally and electrically conductive)

Recycling of fibres???