Page 303 - Handbook of Properties of Textile and Technical Fibres

Tensile properties of flax fibers 277

500 µm
Figure 8.1 Section of the stem of flax.

distributed around the outside of the stem (Fig. 8.1), limits the risk of microbuckling
in zones of compression.
Wood (shive ¼ xylem þ phloem) is comparable with the core of a sandwich
composite structure (Fig. 8.1), it plays a role in the behavior of the stem in bending.
Leblicq et al. (2015) studied the bending behavior of wheat stalks and barley stalks.
Two consecutives phases can be distinguished: ovalization and buckling. The bending
stress that occurs during ovalization causes a flattening of the initial circular cross

Xylem Phloem Cortex

Gap

Shive Fibers Epidermis
Cortical parenchyma
Figure 8.2 Schematic drawing part of a flax stem.