• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.111-115
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• 2005

Recently, natural fibers draw much interests in composite industry due to low cost, light weight, and environment-friendly characteristics compared with glass fibers. In this study, mechanical properties were evaluated for two extreme cases of jute fiber orientations, i.e. the unidirectional yarn composites and the felt fabric composites. Samples of jute fiber composites were fabricated by RTM process using epoxy resin, and tensile, compression, and shear tests were conducted. As can be expected, unidirectional fiber specimens in longitudinal direction showed the highest strength and modulus. Compared with glass/epoxy composites of the similar fabric architecture and fiber volume fraction, the tensile strength and modulus of jute felt/epoxy composites reached only 40% and 50% levels. However, the specific tensile strength and modulus increased to 80% and 90% of the glass/epoxy composites. The main reason for the poor mechanical properties of jute composites is associated with the weak interfacial bonding between fiber and matrix. The effect of surface treatment of jute fibers on the interfacial bonding will be examined in the future work.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.46 no.8
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• pp.471-476
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• 2008

There has been a growing interest for the use of natural fibers in composite applications due to their low cost, environmental friendliness, and good mechanical properties. It was demonstrated to determine the characteristic of tensile behaviors under the variation of test temperature on sisal fiber reinforced polymer composites by RTM process. Especially, the permanganate-treated-fibers improved tensile strength by increasing the coherence with matrix. Material deformation is restricted to increment of cohesion for surface treatment of fiber and then elongation decreas.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.347-360
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• 2022

Fiber-reinforced cementitious composites (FRCC) have emerged as a response to the calls for strong, ductile and sustainable concrete mixes. FRCC has shown outstanding mechanical properties and ductility where special fibres are used in the mixes to give it the strength and the ability to exhibit strain hardening. With the possibility of designing the FRCC mixes to include sustainable constituents and by-products materials such as fly ash, FRCC started to emerge as a green alternative as well. To be able to design mixes that achieve these conflicting properties in concrete, there is a need to understand the composition effect on FRCC and optimize these compositions. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the influence of FRCC compositions on the properties of fresh and hardened of FRCC and then to optimize these mix compositions using factorial design approach. Three factors, water-to-binder ratio (w/b), mineral admixtures (total of fly ash and metakaolin by cement content (MAR)), and metakaolin content (MK), were investigated to determine their effects on the properties of fresh and hardened FRCC. The results show the importance of combining both FA and MK in obtaining a satisfactory fresh and mechanical properties of FRCC. Models were suggested to elucidate the role of the studied factors and a method for optimization was proposed.

• Advanced Composite Materials
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.315-334
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• 2007

In the present study, chopped henequen natural fibers without and with surface modification by electron beam (E-beam) treatment were incorporated into a polypropylene matrix. Prior to composite fabrication, a bundle of raw henequen fibers were treated at various E-beam intensities from 10 kGy to 500 kGy. The effect of E-beam intensity on the interfacial, mechanical and thermal properties of randomly oriented henequen/polypropylene composites with the fiber contents of 40 vol% was investigated focusing on the interfacial shear strength, flexural and tensile properties, dynamic mechanical properties, thermal stability, and fracture behavior. Each characteristic of the material strongly depended on the E-beam intensity irradiated, showing an increasing or decreasing effect. The present study demonstrates that henequen fiber surfaces can be modified successfully with an appropriate dosage of electron beam and use of a low E-beam intensity of 10 kGy results in the improvement of the interfacial properties, flexural properties, tensile properties, dynamic mechanical properties and thermal stability of henequen/polypropylene composites.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.60-67
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• 2018

In the present study, when the surface of kenaf, which is an environmentally friendly natural fiber, was treated by using adhesive solution containing Chemlok 402, the effects of fiber surface treatment, fiber content and fiber length on the cure characteristics, hardness, tensile modulus and abrasion resistance of kenaf/natural rubber composites were investigated. The kenaf fiber contents consisting of the composites were varied with 0, 5, 10, 15, and 29 phr at a fixed fiber length of 2 mm and also the fiber length was varied with 2, 35, and 70 mm at a fixed fiber content of 5 phr. The Tmax and tc90 values, Shore A hardness, tensile modulus, and abrasion resistance of natural rubber composites strongly depended on the kenaf fiber content and length. The characteristics of the composite with kenaf fibers treated with the adhesive solution containing Chemlok 402 were higher than those untreated. This is ascribed to the improved interfacial adhesion between the treated kenaf fiber and the rubber matrix. This study suggests that an appropriate use of adhesive solution may be possible to increase the properties of natural fiber-reinforced composites.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.831-848
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• 2016

This study aims to characterize the multiple cracking behavior of HTPP-ECC (High tenacity polypropylene fiber reinforced engineered cementitious composites) by Digital Image Correlation (DIC) Method. Digital images have been captured from a dogbone shaped HTPP-ECC specimen exhibiting 3.1% tensile ductility under loading. Images analyzed by VIC-2D software and ${\varepsilon}_{xx}$ strain maps have been obtained. Crack widths were computed from the ${\varepsilon}_{xx}$ strain maps and crack width distributions were determined throughout the specimen. The strain values from real LVDTs were also compared with virtual LVDTs digitally attached on digital images. Results confirmed that it is possible to accurately monitor the initiation and propagation of any single crack or multiple cracks by DIC at the whole interval of testing. Although the analysis require some post-processing operations, DIC based crack analysis methodology can be used as a promising and versatile tool for quality control of HTPP-ECC and other strain hardening composites.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.726-734
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• 2014

Three different types of additives, thiokol, epoxidized natural rubber (ENR) and epoxidized linseed oil (ELO), were dispersed in an epoxy matrix before being used in glass fiber (GF) composites, and their effects on the mechanical and dielectric properties of epoxy resin and glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites (GF/EP) were examined. The addition of each of 7 phr ENR, 9 phr ELO and 5 phr thiokol into the epoxy resin increased the fracture toughness significantly by 56.9, 43.1, and 80.0%, respectively, compared to the unmodified resin. The mode I interlaminar fracture toughness of the GF/EP at propagation was also improved by 26.9, 18.3 and 32.7% when each of 7 phr ENR, 9 phr ELO, and 5 phr thiokol, respectively, was dispersed in the epoxy matrix. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the additives reduced crack growth in the GF/EP, whereas their dielectric measurements showed that all these additives had no additional effect on the real permittivity and loss factor of the GF/EP.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.70 no.2
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• pp.233-243
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• 2019

This paper depicts the development and characterizations of laminated composites made with cellulosic giant cane (Arundinaria gigantea) fiber mats and epoxy resin. Zirconia-toughened mullite (ZTM) is used as a filler material in the laminated composite which was prepared from sillimanite through plasma processing technique. The mechanical characterizations of this composite have been carried out as per ASTM standards to evaluate its usability as a structural material. The effects of varying weight percentages of the filler and two different fiber orientations namely, angle-ply [$+45^{\circ}/-45^{\circ}/+45^{\circ}$] and balanced cross-ply [$0^{\circ}/90^{\circ}/0^{\circ}$] on the physical and mechanical properties such as density, microhardness, impact strength, tensile strength and interlaminar shear strength of the layered composite specimens have been investigated. The study indicates that the inclusion of zirconia-toughened mullite in the composite laminate as filler improves its mechanical properties. Moreover, the use of giant cane fiber mat in the laminate is more eco-friendly than the synthetic fibers. This research also helps in generating additional data to enrich the repository of natural fiber reinforced laminated composites.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.137-143
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• 2021

In this study, the fracture strength of Flexible Secondary Barrier (FSB) composites was standardized by conducting a distribution analysis of the fracture probability, considering that the fracture strength of FSB composites such as glass fiber reinforced composites is relatively large. As the mechanical performance of FSB composites varies with the fiber direction, 20 replicate uniaxial tensile tests were performed for different temperatures ranging from the ambient to cryogenic conditions, considering the actual operating environment of liquefied natural gas. For the probability statistical analysis, the Weibull distribution analysis derived from the weakest link theory was used, considering the large variance in the fracture strength and brittle fracture behavior. The results of the Weibull distribution analysis were used to calculate the standard fracture strength of the FSB composites for different fiber directions. The findings can help ensure the reliability of the FSB mechanical properties in different fiber directions in the design of the secondary barrier and structural analyses.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.15-32
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• 2022

The comprehensive understanding of the fiber reinforced polymer behavior requires the use of advanced non-destructive testing methods due to its heterogeneous microstructure and anisotropic mechanical proprieties. In addition, the material response under load is strongly associated with manufacturing defects (e.g., voids, inclusions, fiber misalignment, debonds, improper cure and delamination). Such imperfections and microstructures induce various damage mechanisms arising at different scales before macrocracks are formed. The origin of damage phenomena can only be fully understood with the access to underlying microstructural features. This makes X-ray Computed Tomography an appropriate imaging tool to capture changes in the bulk of fibrous materials. Moreover, Digital Volume Correlation (DVC) can be used to measure kinematic fields induced by various loading histories. The correlation technique relies on image contrast induced by microstructures. Fibrous composites can be reinforced by different fiber architectures that may lead to poor natural contrast. Hence, a priori analyses need to be performed to assess the corresponding DVC measurement uncertainties. This study aimed to evaluate measurement resolutions of global and regularized DVC for glass fiber reinforced polymers with different fiber architectures. The measurement uncertainties were evaluated with respect to element size and regularization lengths. Even though FE-based DVC could not reach the recommended displacement uncertainty with low spatial resolution, regularized DVC enabled for the use of fine meshes when applying appropriate regularization.