eprintid: 10196809 rev_number: 6 eprint_status: archive userid: 699 dir: disk0/10/19/68/09 datestamp: 2024-09-11 14:56:57 lastmod: 2024-09-11 14:56:57 status_changed: 2024-09-11 14:56:57 type: article metadata_visibility: show sword_depositor: 699 creators_name: Pech-Can, Gloria E creators_name: Flores-Johnson, Emmanuel A creators_name: Carrillo, Jose G creators_name: Bele, Eral creators_name: Valadez-Gonzalez, Alex title: Mechanical Properties of Polyurethane Foam Reinforced with Natural Henequen Fibre ispublished: pub divisions: UCL divisions: B04 divisions: F45 keywords: polyurethane foam; natural fibre; henequen fibre; mechanical properties; reinforced polyurethane foam note: This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. abstract: Polymeric foams are used in many applications, from packaging to structural applications. While polymeric foams have good mechanical performance in compression, they are brittle in tension and bending; fibre reinforcement can enhance their tension and flexural behaviour. This work reports a novel investigation of the mechanical properties of fibre-reinforced polyurethane (FRPU) foams with natural henequen fibres. Pull-out tests were performed with 10 mm fibres and various foam densities to identify the optimal density of 100 kg/m3. Thus, FRPU foams with this density and fibre contents of 1, 2 and 3 wt% were manufactured for mechanical testing. Compression tests showed an increase in the elastic modulus of the FRPU foam specimens compared to the unreinforced PU foam. The FRPU foams also exhibited higher yield stress, which was attributed to the reinforcing effect of the fibres on the cell walls. A maximum increase of 71% in the compressive yield stress was observed for the FRPU foam specimens with a fibre content of 2%. In addition, FRPU foam specimens absorbed more energy for any given strain than the unreinforced PU foam. Flexural tests showed the FRPU foams exhibited increased flexural strength compared to the unreinforced PU foam. A maximum increase of 40% in the flexural strength was observed for the FRPU foam with a fibre content of 1%. The findings reported here are significant because they suggest that FRPU foams incorporating natural henequen fibre exhibit promising potential as sustainable materials with enhanced mechanical properties. date: 2024-09-01 date_type: published publisher: MDPI AG official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcs8090343 oa_status: green full_text_type: pub language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green verified: verified_manual elements_id: 2311168 doi: 10.3390/jcs8090343 lyricists_name: Bele, Eral lyricists_id: EBELE86 actors_name: Bele, Eral actors_id: EBELE86 actors_role: owner full_text_status: public publication: Journal of Composites Science volume: 8 number: 9 article_number: 343 issn: 2504-477X citation: Pech-Can, Gloria E; Flores-Johnson, Emmanuel A; Carrillo, Jose G; Bele, Eral; Valadez-Gonzalez, Alex; (2024) Mechanical Properties of Polyurethane Foam Reinforced with Natural Henequen Fibre. Journal of Composites Science , 8 (9) , Article 343. 10.3390/jcs8090343 <https://doi.org/10.3390/jcs8090343>. Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10196809/1/Pech-Can_2024.pdf