Thermoplastic Hybrid Composites with Wood Fibers: Bond Strength of Back-Injected Structures
- Due to their lightweight potential and good eco-balance, thermoplastic hybrid composites with natural fiber reinforcement have long been used in the automotive industry. A good alternative to natural fibers is wood fibers, which have similar properties but are also a single-material solution using domestic raw materials. However, there has been hardly any research into wood fibers in thermoplastic back-injected hybrid composites. This article compares the bond strength of an injection molded rib from polypropylene (PP) and wood fibers to different non-wovens. The non-wovens consisted of wood fibers (spruce) or alternatively natural fibers (kenaf, hemp), both with a polypropylene matrix. Pull-off and instrumented puncture impact tests show that, given similar parameters, the natural and wood-fiber-hybrid composites exhibit very similar trends in bond strength. Further tests using viscosity measurements, microscopy, and computed tomography confirm the results. Wood-fiber-reinforced thermoplastic hybrid composites can thus compete with the natural fiber composites in terms of their mechanical behavior and therefore present a good alternative in technical semi-structural applications.
Author: | Frederik Obermeier, Peter Karlinger, Michael Schemme, Volker Altstädt |
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URL: | https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15072473 |
Parent Title (English): | Materials |
Document Type: | Article (peer reviewed) |
Language: | English |
Publication Year: | 2022 |
Tag: | back-injection molding; biocomposites; bond strength; polypropylene; wood fibers |
Volume: | 15 |
Issue: | 7 |
First Page: | 2473 |
Peer reviewed: | Ja |
Project Title: | Prozess- und Materialtechnische Untersuchungen von Hybridverbundstrukturen mit nachwachsenden Rohstoffen in Form von Natur- und Holzfasern |
Acronym: | NFRipp |
Funding Agency: | BMBF |
Grant Number: | 13FH069PX6 |
faculties / departments: | Fakultät für Ingenieurwissenschaften |
Dewey Decimal Classification: | 6 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / 60 Technik / 600 Technik, Technologie |