Page 319 - Handbook of Properties of Textile and Technical Fibres

Tensile properties of flax fibers 293

For polymer reinforcement, specific standards now exist, their aim is to take
account of the nonlinearity behavior in tension of the fibers. This use is justified,
amongst other things, by flax fibers being renewable, their good mechanical properties
combined with a low specific gravity (d ¼ 1.5), the reduction of environmental
impacts (to be demonstrated by a life cycle analysis), different end-of-life solutions
(recycling but also by biodegradation with a judicious choice of the matrix), the
possibility of giving a natural finish to an object and during the transformation phase
a reduction in the impact on human health. The use of flax fibers as reinforcements
requires taking into account their specificities such as the length of the single fibers
of between 5 and 80 mm, their high anisotropy linked to their microstructure, and
their sensitivity during the transformation phase to the thermal cycle (two relevant
parameters: temperature and exposure time).
This chapter does not pretend to be complete and many scientific works are still to
be carried out. The development of agro-based composites is relatively new and some
properties are still to be studied, amongst other things, on industrial materials.
The opening of new markets allows a structuring of the actors involved to answer
the demands of textile industries including composite materials and the development
of semifinished products (textile preforms, for example).

References

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AFNOR NF T 25-501-3: Reinforcement fibres- Flax fibres for plastics composites. Part 3,
Determ Tensile Properties Tech Fibres, 2015 (in French), 16 pp.
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