Micromechanical analysis on tensile properties prediction of discontinuous randomized zalacca fibre/high-density polyethylene composites under critical fibre length

In this research,the tensile properties'performance of compression moulded discontinuous randomized zalacca fibre/high-density polyethylene under critical fibre length was analysed by means of experimental method and micromechanical models.These investigations were used to verify the tensile properties models toward the effect of fibre length and volume fraction on the composites.The experimental results showed that the tensile properties of composites had significantly increased due to the enhancement of fibre length.On the contrary,a decline in the tensile properties was observed with the increase of volume fraction.A comparison was made between the available experimental results and the performances of Tsai-Pagano,Christensen and Cox-Krechel models in their prediction of composites elastic modulus.The results showed that the consideration of fibre's elastic anisotropy in the Cox-Krenchel model had yielded a good prediction of the composites modulus,nevertheless the models could not accurately predict the composites modulus for fibre length study.

Characterization of mean stem density,fibre length and lignin from two Acacia species and their hybrid

The objective of this study was to compare the wood properties related to wood pulp quality of two widely planted Acacia species viz.Acacia mangium Willd.and Acacia auriculiformis A.Cunn.Ex Benth.and their hybrid.Acid insoluble lignin content(Klason),mean stem density and fibre length differed considerably among the species and hybrids.A.mangium possessed a high percent of lignin content compared to A.auriculiformis and the Acacia hybrid.However,mean stem density of A.auriculiformis was higher than A.mangium and the hybrid.Fibre length of heartwood tissues was generally shorter than that of sapwood tissues.The hybrid had longer fibres than the parent species.Lignin was negatively correlated with mean stem density.Generally,the wood properties of the hybrid were superior to its parent species.The significant intraspecific variation observed for wood properties of Acacia species could be used in breeding superior hybrids combining desirable traits of the two species.Considering thedifficulty involved in accurately measuring the lignin content compared to mean stem density,selection for plants with low lignin content can be achieved by indirect selection of high mean stem density.

The Relationship of Microstructure, Density and Bending Strength Properties of Blighia sapida

Wood anatomical structures of various tree species help identify the wood. The characteristics and composition of these structures affect their utilisation. In this work, the microstructure of Blighia sapida a lesser-known Ghanaian hardwood species using light microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM) was studied. The relationship between the microstructure and some physical properties such as density, and bending strength were also studied. The anatomical features studied were fibre length, double fibre wall thickness, fibre proportion, vessel diameter and proportion, rays and axial parenchyma proportions. It was observed that the use of SEM in studying the anatomical or ultra-structural aspects of wood gives a clearer understanding of the features and structures found in wood. Anatomical features such as presence of crystals and absence of axial parenchyma in Blighia sapida are reported in the work. The study also established that Blighia sapida had a low water uptake even though it had vessel distribution of 12 vessels/mm2. Having not very distinct axial parenchyma may have accounted for the low water uptake. The presence of occluded pits could also account for the low water uptake and the fibre wall thickness may also account for a medium bending strength of 62.8 N/mm2 at 12% moisture content.

Application of dynamic image analysis to the optical characterisation of fibrous bulk material

Dynamic image analysis provides an automated evaluation method to determine the size and shape of multiple particles. This method represents a common application for ordinary bulk material. The latest draft of ISO 13322–2:2021 describes the state of the art, but lacks instructions for handling fibrous bulk material. Interlocking fibres complicate the measurement conditions and require a disentanglement of fibrous samples during a pre-dispersion step. A further error source includes the fibre orientation inside the measurement zone of the device. If the thresholding algorithm fails to differentiate between the fibre projection area and the background, a subsequent image optimisation solves the problem. This article addresses the mentioned problems by analysing cotton cellulose and polyacrylonitrile fibres. Besides the execution of a pre-dispersion step, the experiments compare the discrepancies between dry and wet dispersion. Here, the software packages PAQXOS and ImageJ perform the image evaluation. In this case, the wet dispersion setup with a subsequent image evaluation by ImageJ provides comprehensible results.