Thermoplastic Hybrid Composites with Wood Fibers: Bond Strength of Back-Injected Structures |
| |
Authors: | Frederik Obermeier Peter Karlinger Michael Schemme Volker Altstdt |
| |
Institution: | 1.Department of Plastics Technology, Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Technical University of Applied Sciences Rosenheim, Hochschulstraße 1, 83024 Rosenheim, Germany; (P.K.); (M.S.);2.Department of Polymer Engineering, University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstraße 30, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany; |
| |
Abstract: | 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. |
| |
Keywords: | biocomposites polypropylene spruce wood fibers natural fibers back-injection molding bond strength |
|
|