Optical and Mechanical Properties of Ramie Fiber/Epoxy Resin Transparent Composites

The residual resources of ramie fiber-based textile products were used as raw materials.Ramie fiber felt(RF)was modified by NaClO_(2) aqueous solution and then impregnated with water-based epoxy resin(WER).RF/WER transparent composite materials were prepared by lamination hot pressing process.The composite materials’color difference,transmittance,haze,density,water absorption,and mechanical properties were determined to assess the effects of NaClO_(2) treatment and the number of ramie fiber layers on the properties of the prepared composites.The results showed significantly improved optical and mechanical properties of the RF/WER transparent composites after NaClO_(2) treatment.With the increase of ramie fiber layers,the composites’whiteness,transmittance,and water absorption decreased while the haze increased.For material with three layers,the optical transmittance in the visible light region was 82%,and the haze was 96%,indicating the material has both high transmittance and high haze characteristics.The tensile strength increases with the increase of the number of layers,and the tensile strength of the composite with six layers is 243 MPa.This study broadens the scope of application of ramie fiber as a new option for home decoration materials.

Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Apocynum and Ramie Fiber Mat Reinforced Polylactic Acid Composites

With the increasing awareness of environmental protection and rational utilization of resources,natural fiber reinforced composites have shown broad development prospects.Apocynum fiber,known as the“king of wild fiber”,not only has moisture absorption,air permeability,and good mechanical properties but also has many health-related advantages such as antibacterial properties.In this study,four types of needle-punched Apocynum fiber and ramie fiber mat reinforced polylactic acid(PLA)composites were fabricated.Mechanical and thermal properties of the composites were tested and analyzed.The results showed that compared with those of the ramie fiber finish needle-punched mat reinforced composites,the tensile strength and the tensile modulus of Apocynum fiber finish needle-punched mat reinforced composites had increased by 15.3%and 60.1%,respectively.In comparison,the bending strength and the bending modulus were decreased by 21.8%and 7.6%,respectively.Moreover,compared with the Apocynum fiber finish needled-punched mat reinforced composites and the ramie fiber finish needle-punched mat reinforced composites,the Apocynum 50/ramie 50 finish needle-punched mat reinforced composites had the best tensile and bending properties.The after-fracture morphology was detected by a scanning electron microscope(SEM).The thermal properties of the composites were also characterized.It was found that the thermal properties of the four types of composites showed very similar behaviors.

Preparation and Properties of Unmodified Ramie Fiber Reinforced Polypropylene Composites

Ramie fiber （RF） was used to reinforce the polypropylene （PP）. The composites were prepared with a melting hybrid technology. Tests had been performed on PP and composites with different RF contents （10 wt%, 20 wt%, and 30 wt%）. By using SEM, DSC, TGA, electronic universal testing machine, HDT-VICAT tester and coefficient of linear expansion tester, the effects of the RF loading were assessed on the basis of morphologies, mechanical and thermal properties as well as vicat softening temperature and CTE of the resulting composites. The results show that the thermal degradation temperature of the PP/RF composites becomes lower with higher fiber content. The crystallization rate of the PP matrix is accelerated by the unmodified RF. Because of the inferior interfacial bonding strength between RF and PP, the tensile strength of composites decreases by the presence of RF. And the RF used is relatively long compared with the diameter, the impact strength of the composites is improved by the unmodified RF. The vicat softening temperature of composites can be increased by about 5℃ in the presence of RF compared with PP. The CTE is reduced significantly in the presence of RF. Generally speaking, impact strength, crystallization rate, vicat softening temperature and CTE of PP/RF composites could be improved in the presence of RF. The tensile strength is decreased and thermal degradation temperature of composites becomes lower, but these should not affect most subsequent normal uses of the composites. As the unmodified RF is used directly, no hazardous waste is produced during the fabrication process, combined with the low price, so, a facile and economic preparation pathway is given by using unmodified natural fiber to reinforce polymer and composites with good performance obtained.

Improvement of Mechanical,Dynamic-Mechanical and Thermal Properties for Noil Ramie Fiber Reinforced Polyethylene Composites

Noil discarded fibers from fiber production for textile industry have short length and are always considered less valuable.Here,noil ramie fibers/HDPE composite is prepared using twin-screw extruder and the dynamic mechanical and thermal properties are studied.The influence of ramie fiber and maleic anhydride-grafted polyolefin(MA-g-PO)on mechanical,dynamic mechanical and thermal properties is investigated.It is observed that the tensile,flexural and impact properties of the composites treated with MA-g-PO are all improved in comparison to the untreated composites.Dynamic mechanical properties of the composite with MA-g-PO show an increase in the storage modulus with a higherαrelaxation peak,together with the micromorphology analysis,indicating an improved interfacial bonding between fiber and matrix by the MA-g-PO addition.Furthermore,the change in TGA thermograms of composite caused by MA-g-PO exhibits that the addition of MA-g-PO is also helpful to increase the thermal stability of noil ramie fiber/HDPE composites.

Flame-retardant Wrapped Ramie Fibers towards Suppressing “Candlewick Effect” of Polypropylene/Ramie Fiber Composites

In this work, a flame-retardant polypropylene（PP）/ramie fiber（RF） composite was prepared. The ramie fibers were wrapped chemically by a phosphorus- and nitrogen-containing flame retardant（FR） produced via in situ condensation reaction so as to suppress their candlewick effect. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy（FTIR）, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy（XPS） and scanning electron microscopy（SEM） demonstrated that the ramie fibers wrapped chemically by FR（FR-RF） were obtained successfully. Thermogravimatric test showed that the PP/FR-RF composite had more residue and better thermal stability at high temperatures than the PP/RF composite. Cone calorimeter（CC） results indicated that the peak of heat release rate（PHRR） and total heat release（THR） correspondingly decreased by 23.4% and 12.5% compared with the values of neat PP/RF. The PP/FR-RF composite created a continuous and compact char layer after the combustion. Combining FTIR analysis of char residue after CC test with heat conduction coefficient results, it could be concluded that the charring of FR on RF greatly weakened the candlewick effect of RF, and more char residue in the RF domain facilitated the formation of more continuous and compact char layer in the whole combustion zone, consequently protected PP composites during combustion, resulting in the better flame retardancy of PP/FR-RF composite than that of PP/RF composite.