• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.44-52
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• 2002

Composite materials are created by combining two or more component to achieve desired properties which could not be obtained with the separate components. The use of reinforcing fillers, which can reduce material costs and improve certain properties, is increasing in thermoplastic polymer composites. Currently, various inorganic fillers such as talc, mica, clay, glass fiber and calcium carbonate are being incorporated into thermoplastic composites. Nevertheless, lignocellulose fibers have drawn attention due to their abundant availability, low cost and renewable nature. In recent, interest has grown in composites made from lignocellulose fiber in thermoplastic polymer matrices, particularly for low cost/high volume applications. In addition to high specific properties, lignocellulose fibers offer a number of benefits for lignocellulose fiber/thermoplastic polymer composites. These include low hardness, which minimize abrasion of the equipment during processing, relatively low density, biodegradability, and low cost on a unit-volume basis. In spite of the advantage mentioned above, the use of lignocellulose fibers in thermoplastic polymer composites has been plagued by difficulties in obtaining good dispersion and strong interfacial adhesion because lignocellulose fiber is hydrophilic and thermoplastic polymer is hydrophobic. The application of lignocellulose fibers as reinforcements in composite materials requires, just as for glass-fiber reinforced composites, a strong adhesion between the fiber and the matrix regardless of whether a traditional polymer matrix, a biodegradable polymer matrix or cement is used. Further this article gives a survey about physical and chemical treatment methods which improve the fiber matrix adhesion, their results and effects on the physical properties of composites. Coupling agents in lignocellulose fiber and polymer composites play a very important role in improving the compatibility and adhesion between polar lignocellulose fiber and non-polar polymeric matrices. In this article, we also review various kinds of coupling agent and interfacial mechanism or phenomena between lignocellulose fiber and thermoplastic polymer.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.38-44
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• 1998

A new device that uses turbulent air for mixing wood fibers with thermoplastic fibers was designed and its mixing effectiveness was evaluated in wood fiber and polypropylene fiber composites. Composites made by the turbulent air mixing (TAM) process performed better than composites made by the conventional Rando-Webber forming or nonwoven web process with an additional needling step. Thus, the TAM process proved to be a simple and efficient method in mixing wood fibers with short thermoplastic fibers for the production of wood fiber and thermoplastic fiber composites.

• Composites Research
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.317-322
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• 2018

In various industry, the composite is tried to be applied to products and thermoplastic based composite is in the spotlight because this composite can be recycled. The use of continuous fiber thermoplastic (CFT) method increased gradually than long fiber thermoplastic (LFT). In this study, tensile, flexural, and impact test of different array types of glass fiber (GF)/thermoplastic composites were performed to compare with GF array. Impregnation property between GF mat and thermoplastic was determined using computed tomography (CT). At CFT method, thermoplastic film is not wet into GF roving and many voids are appeared into composite. This phenomenon affects to decrease mechanical properties. Plain pattern GF mat was the best mechanical and impregnation properties that distance between two roving was set closely to $100{\mu}m$.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.101-109
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• 1996

Effects of process variables were evaluated in physical properties of the wood fiber-thermoplastic fiber composites using nonwoven web method. Turbulent air mixer using compressed air was employed to mix wood fiber with two types of thermoplastic polypropylene and nylon 6 fibers. The optimal hot press temperature and time were found to be $190^{\circ}C$ and 9 minutes in wood fiber-polypropylene fiber composite and to be $220^{\circ}C$ and 9 minutes in wood fiber-nylon 6 fiber composite. As the density of wood fiber-polypropylene fiber composite and wood fiber-nylon 6 fiber composite increased, the physical properties were improved The density appeared to be the most significant factor on physical properties in the statistical analysis. The composition ratio of polypropylene or nylon 6 fiber to wood fiber was considered not to be statistically significant factor. The thickness swelling decreased somewhat in wood fiber-polypropylene fiber composite and wood fiber-nylon 6 fiber composite as the content of synthetic fiber increased. As the increase of mat moisture content, dimensional stability was improved in wood fiber-polypropylene fiber composite but not in wood fiber-nylon 6 fiber composite.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.30 no.7 s.250
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• pp.794-799
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• 2006

In recent years, the use of natural fiber as reinforcement in polymer composites to replace synthetic fiber such as glass fiber is receiving increasing attention. Because of increasing usage according to the high demand, the cost of thermoplastic has increased rapidly over the past decades. We used a thermoplastic polymer(polypropylene) as the matrix and a lignocellulosic material(rice-husk flour) as the reinforcement filler to prepare a particle-reinforced composite to examine the possibility of using lignocellulosic material as reinforcement filler and to determine data of test results for physical, mechanical and morphological properties of the composite according to the reinforcement filler content in respect to thermoplastic polymer, In this study, PLA/PP rice-husk fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites that made by the hot press molding method according to appropriate manufacturing process was evaluated as mechanical properties.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.58-65
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• 1997

This research was carried out to evaluate the effect of process variables on mechanical properties of the wood fiber-thermoplastic fiber composites by turbulent air mixing method. The turbulent air mixer used in this experiment was specially designed in order to mix wood fiber and thermoplastic polypropylene or nylon 6 fiber, and was highly efficient in the mixing of relatively short plastic fiber and wood fiber in a short time without any trouble. The adequate hot - pressing temperature and time in our experimental condition were $190^{\circ}C$ and 9 minutes in 90% wood fiber - 10% polypropylene fiber composite and $220^{\circ}C$ and 9 minutes in 90% wood fiber 10% nylon 6 fiber composite. Both in the wood fiber - polypropylene fiber composite and wood fiber- nylon 6 fiber composite, the mechanical properties improved with the increase of density. Statistically, the density of composite appeared to function as the most significant factor in mechanical properties. Within the 5~15% composition ratios of polypropylene or nylon 6 fiber to wood fiber, the composition ratio showed no significant effect on the mechanical properties. Bending and tensile strength of composite, however, slightly increased with the increase of synthetic fiber content. The increase of mat moisture content showed no significant improvement of mechanical properties both in wood fiber - polypropylene fiber composite and wood fiber nylon 6 fiber composite. Wood fiber - nylon 6 fiber composite was superior in th mechanical strength to wood fiber-polypropylene fiber composite, which may be related to higher melt flow index of nylon 6 fiber(22g/10min) than of polypropylene fiber(4.3g/10min).

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.25-30
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• 2017

Carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) composite materials have been widely used in various industrial fields because the design variables can be adjusted according to the application of the required structure. Thermosetting and thermoplastic resins are used as the base materials of CFRP composites for the lightweight construction of automotive components. Thermoplastics have several advantages such as no curing and recyclability compared to thermosetting resin. In this study, CFRP composites were made using the Long-Fiber Thermoplastic-Direct (LFT-D) process. The LFT-D process includes an in-line production system that directly impregnates a thermoplastic resin, extrudes the composite material, and molds it. This process increases the strength and decreases the molding time. The tensile strength characteristics on the mechanical properties of CFRP were analyzed according to the parameters of LFT-D based on thermoplastics. To analyze the properties of CFRP, the specimens were prepared based on the tensile test standard ASTM 3039 of composite materials.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.393-398
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• 1990

A method is proposed which can be used to obtain the fibesr content distribution of compression molded long fiber-reinforced thermoplastic sheet for nonisothermal state. The fiber is modelled to be a sphere. Once the one-dimensional unsteady state heat conduction equation in solved, the mean temperature in defined across the thickness direction. The viscosity of matrix is determined with the mean temperature. Using the obtained viscosity, two-dimensional sheet0like part compression molding is simulated with the finite element method. Comparison with experiments shows that the method accurately predicts the distribution.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.441-445
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• 2005

Thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer (TPUe) fiber mats were successfully fabricated by electrospinning method. The TPUe fiber mats were subjected to a series of cycling tensile tests to determine the mechanical behavior. The electrospun TPUe fiber mats showed non-linear elastic and inelastic characteristics which may be due to slippage of crossed fiber (non-bonded or physical bonded structure) and breakage of the electro spun fibers at junctions (point-bonded or chemical bonding structure). The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images demonstrated that the point-bonded structures of fiber mats played an important role in the load-bearing component as determined in loading-unloading component tests, which can be considered to have a force of restitution.

• Composites Research
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.383-389
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• 2020

Thermoplastic composite is introduced to design an automotive door impact beam, and the manufacturing process is demonstrated. The safety regulation for vehicles has been steadily tightened, and weight-reduction has become a mandatory factor in the automotive industry. Hence, both high-performance and lightweight are demanded for automotive components. The aim of the present study is to develop an automotive door impact beam using fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites to reduce the weight of the impact beam while increasing its mechanical performance. A new production method which combines continuous fiber-reinforced composite and LFT(Long Fiber-reinforced Thermoplastic) is implemented by using insert injection molding process. The mechanical performance of the composite impact beam was evaluated using 3-point bending tests. Thermoplastic composite will expand its application range to various automotive components due to its light-weight design capability and high productivity.