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.
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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.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Mechanical Properties of Polyurethane Foam Reinforced with Natural Henequen Fibre |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3390/jcs8090343 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcs8090343 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | 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. |
| Keywords: | polyurethane foam; natural fibre; henequen fibre; mechanical properties; reinforced polyurethane foam |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Mechanical Engineering |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10196809 |
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