• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.46-55
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• 2015

There is a limit for deforestation in order to keep the environmental cycle undisturbed. The heart of the paper is to replace the wood to a maximum extent to obtain a sustainable environment. This research aims at new natural composites in which treated hemp fiber used as reinforcement, synthetic cellulose used as particulate to improve the adhesion between matrix - fiber interface and Epoxy LY556 acted as matrix fabricated by hand layup technique. The density, water absorption, tensile properties, impact strength, hardness, flexural properties and compressive properties have been evaluated under ASTM standards and compare the results with existing materials such as wood, aluminium, etc., The composite hemp fiber reinforced polymer (HFRP) could be exploited as an effective replacement for wood and it would be suitable for automotive applications by comparing results.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.50-55
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• 2008

Recently, sea algae cultivation as carbon sink and carbon dioxide fixation have been considered. Also, various researches on bioenergy derived from sea algae and the utilization of fibers, saccharide, and lipid of sea algae have been performing. Till now, algae fibers has been used for manufacturing of paper and reinforcing of polymer composites and the extracts of sea algae are used for cosmetics, pharmaceutical materials and food such as agar. Especially, algae fiber has so similar properties to cellulose in terms of crystallinity and functional groups that it can be utilized as reinforcements of biocomposites. Biocomposites as alternatives of glass fiber reinforced polymer composites are environmentally friendly polymer composites reinforced with natural fibers and are actively applying to the automobiles and construction industries. In this paper, characteristics of algae fiber and biocomposites reinforced with algae fiber as environmentally friendly energy materials have been introduced.

• 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.

• Composites Research
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.408-414
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• 2020

The present engineering sector focused on the sandwich composites and almost covered all engineering fields because of decent mechanical properties with a lightweight structure. It mainly consists of high strength fiber skin and porous structure core like corrugated, honeycomb, balsa wood, and foams which is playing a pivotal role in weight reduction. Recently researchers attention grabbed by Natural fiber sandwich composites due to biodegradability, renewable, low-cost, and environmentally friendly. However special focus is highly needed towards the flammability behavior of natural fibers used as reinforcement for composites. Herein, for the first time, the flame retardant natural fiber sandwich composite was fabricated by using flame retardant treated bamboo fabric and vinyl ester via the VARTM process. The impact of flame retardant treated bamboo fabric on mechanical and flame retardant properties were studied. The results concluded that the fabricated bamboo sandwich composites show structurally lightweight with significant mechanical strength and feasibility with respect to the flame.

• Composites Research
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.19-24
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• 2014

In this study, an investigation on mechanical properties of flax/vinyl ester natural fiber composite was performed as a precedent study on the design of eco-friendly structure using flax/vinyl ester composite. Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding(VARTM) manufacturing method was adopted for manufacturing the flax fiber composite specimen. The mechanical properties of the manufactured flax composites were compared with flax composite data cited from some references. Based on this, the experimental data showed that the flax/vinyl ester composite has some advantages when it is applied to environment-friendly structure.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.16-23
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• 2008

In this study, novel waste wool/polypropylene NFRPs (natural fiber reinforced polymer composites), which are constituted with waste wool discarded as industrial scrap during manufacturing processes of woven fabrics and general purpose thermoplastic polypropylene (PP), were fabricated by means of compressionmolding and their mechanical and thermal properties were characterized. The mechanical properties of PP resin were significantly improved by an introduction of waste wool to PP. In particular, as the loading of waste wool was 50 vol% in the NFRP, the flexural strength of the NFRP was increased about 20%, the flexural modulus about 143%, the tensile strength about 76%, and the tensile modulus about 90% in comparison with each of PP control. In addition, the maximum value of the heat deflection temperature (HDT) obtained with the NFRP was $138^{\circ}C$ at a 50 vol% loading of waste wool. This is $21^{\circ}C$ higher than the HDT of PP control. The result here suggests that waste wool be a potential candidate for a reinforcing material of thermoplastic matrix resins.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.13-20
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• 2005

Interfacial shear strength (IFSS) of environmentally friendly natural fiber reinforced polymer composites plays a very important role in controlling the overall mechanical performance. The IFSS of various Ramie and Kenaf fibers/epoxy composites was evaluated using the combination of micromechanical test and nondestructive acoustic emission (AE) to find out optimal conditions for desirable final performance. Dynamic contact angle was measured for Ramie and Kenaf fibers and correlated the wettability properties with interfacial adhesion. Mechanical properties of Ramie and Kenaf fibers were investigated using single-fiber tensile test and analyzed statistically by both uni-and bimodal Weibull distributions. An influence of clamping effect on a real elongation for both Ramie and Kenaf fibers were evaluated as well. Two different microfailure modes, axial debonding and fibril fracture coming from fiber bundles and single fiber composites (SFC) were observed under tension and compression.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.62-67
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• 2008

Biocomposite was fabricated with biodegradable polymer and natural fiber that has potential to be used as replacement for glass fiber reinforced polymer composite with the benefits of low cost, low density, acceptable specific strength, biodegradability, etc. Until now, mostly natural cellulosic fibers on land have been used as reinforcement for biocomposite. The present study focused on investigating the fabrication and the characterization of biocomposite reinforced with red algae fibers from the sea. The bleached red algae fiber (BRAF) showed very similar crystallinity to the wood cellulose. It has high stability against thermal degradation (maximum thermal decomposition temperature of 359.3$^{\circ}C$) and thermal expansion. Biocomposites reinforced with BRAF have been fabricated by a compression molding method and their mechanical and thermal properties have been studied. The storage modulus and the thermomechanical stability of PBS (polybuthylenesuccinate) matrix are markedly improved by reinforcing with the BRAF. These results indicate that red algae fiber can be used as an excellent reinforcement of biocomposites, which are sometimes called as "green-composites" or "eco-composites".

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.222-230
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• 2009

This study was to investigate the effect of alkali treatment for long kenaf fiber to improve fiber surface characterics by removal of wax, lignin and hemicellulose which affect adversely for matrix union. SEM observation was also studied to check out the interface adhesion improvement by the alkali pre-treatment. From the result, interface coherence increased by 3% alkali pre-treatment and reached a maximum by 5% alkali pre-treatment. However, the 3% the bio-composites treated with 3% alkali was highest tensile and flexural strength than other.

• Advanced Composite Materials
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.335-347
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• 2007

Green composites composed of long maize fibers and poly $\varepsilon$-caprolactone (PCL) biodegradable polyester matrix were manufactured by the thermo-mechanical processing termed as 'Sequential Molding and Forming Process' that was developed previously by the authors' research group. A variety of processing parameters such as fiber area fraction, molding temperature and forming pressure were systematically controlled and their influence on the tensile properties was investigated. It was revealed that both tensile strength and elastic modulus of the composites increase steadily depending on the increase in fiber area fraction, suggesting a general conformity to the rule of mixtures (ROM), particularly up to 55% fiber area fraction. The improvement in tensile properties was found to be closely related to the good interfacial adhesion between the fiber and polymer matrix, and was observed to be more pronounced under the optimum processing condition of $130^{\circ}C$ molding temperature and 10 MPa forming pressure. However, processing out of the optimum condition results in a deterioration in properties, mostly fiber and/or matrix degradation together with their interfacial defect as a consequence of the thermal or mechanical damages. On the basis of microstructural observation, the cause of strength degradation and its countermeasure to provide a feasible composite design are discussed in relation to the optimized process conditions.