Composite materials based on woven Alfa and unsaturated polyester resins were manufactured by hand layup technique.
The Alfa fibers were collected from the M’Sila region (Algeria). Different chemical treatments such as mercerization,
permanganate, acetylating and dichromate have been used in order to modulate the mechanical properties of these composites.
According to tensile and flexural tests, the treated composites showed better mechanical performances compared to their
untreated counterparts. Actually, the permanganate treated fiber-reinforced composites showed 43.02 % of increase in tensile
strength and 31.59 % in Young’s modulus, while the acetylated fiber-reinforced composites showed maximum improvement in
flexural strength of about 23.80 %. Furthermore, the flexural modulus was also improved by 35.7 % compared to the untreated
Alfa fiber composites. FTIR characterization of Alfa fibers showed that the quantity of hydroxyl groups (-OH) decreased and the
crystallinity index increase by 20.53% after alkali treatment. SEM observations on fibers surface showed that the different
chemical treatments modified the fiber which improved the fiber–matrix adhesion.
Keywords: . Alfa fibers, composites, chemical treatment, tensile test, mechanical properties.
Citation
Azzedine BENYAHIA ,
Ali REDJEM ,
ZINE EL ABIDINE Rahmouni ,
ABDELLAH Merrouche ,
, (2016), Study of the mechanical properties of a composite material: alfa fibers / unsaturated polyester, Romanian Journal of Materials,
Vol:46, Issue:1, pages:25-33, University POLITEHNICA Bucharest - Romania
