Tensile properties of natural fibers with variation in cross-sectional area

Abstract

Natural fiber-reinforced green composites are increasingly being used in various industries. Generally speaking, the cross sections of natural fibers are not circular. Moreover, they show wide variation in their cross-sectional area. Nevertheless, the tensile properties of natural fibers are often evaluated on the assumption of a circular cross-sectional shape. Therefore, we proposed a new method to calculate the natural fiber cross-sectional area by measuring their projection widths to estimate the proper tensile properties. This method was used to investigate the effects of cross-sectional area variation on tensile properties. Additionally, to estimate the proper Weibull parameters of natural fibers apart from the cross-sectional area variation, we proposed a strength distribution function that incorporates cross-sectional area variation, based on a Weibull distribution. Finally, we formulated a strength distribution function of natural fibers that includes the cross-sectional area variation.