Harakeke fibre as reinforcement in epoxy matrix composites and its hybridisation with hemp fibre
type: CreativeWork
description: Over the last few decades, due to increasing global awareness of environmental issues, there has been great interest and motivation in research to develop natural fibre composites to replace glass fibre composites in certain applications. Harakeke fibre known as New Zealand flax or Phormium tenax used to be an important export material in New Zealand in the early twentieth century, but its production reduced due to the availability of synthetic fibres midcentury and competition from other natural fibres such as sisal and flax. Now, harakeke plants are planted mainly for landscaping with some fibre extracted from harakeke leaves used for craft goods and traditional products of Maori people who were the earliest settlers in New Zealand. Only two family workshops in the country are currently extracting harakeke fibre for this purpose. The aim of this thesis was to assess if harakeke fibre has potential for reinforcement in polymer composites and to assess the hybridisation of harakeke/hemp hybrid composites. Both short and long fibres were used as reinforcement, while a low viscosity epoxy resin was used as the matrix. Short fibres were alkali treated before being used to reinforce epoxy, while long fibres were used as supplied. Short and long fibres were aligned using dynamic sheet forming and manual carding, respectively. Composites were produced using hand lay-up and compression moulding. The physical and mechanical properties of fibres and composites were tested following ASTM and ISO standards. The surfaces of fibres and fracture surfaces of composites were assessed microscopically using optical microscopes and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Short harakeke and hemp fibres were alkali treated at elevated temperatures in a fibre pulping digester with a solution of 2wt% NaOH or 5wt% NaOH/2wt% Na2SO3. Single fibre tensile testing was carried out on untreated and treated fibres. It was found that harakeke fibre treated with NaOH and hemp fibre treated with NaOH/Na…
abstract: Over the last few decades, due to increasing global awareness of environmental issues, there has been great interest and motivation in research to develop natural fibre composites to replace glass fibre composites in certain applications. Harakeke fibre known as New Zealand flax or Phormium tenax used to be an important export material in New Zealand in the early twentieth century, but its production reduced due to the availability of synthetic fibres midcentury and competition from other natural fibres such as sisal and flax. Now, harakeke plants are planted mainly for landscaping with some fibre extracted from harakeke leaves used for craft goods and traditional products of Maori people who were the earliest settlers in New Zealand. Only two family workshops in the country are currently extracting harakeke fibre for this purpose. The aim of this thesis was to assess if harakeke fibre has potential for reinforcement in polymer composites and to assess the hybridisation of harakeke/hemp hybrid composites. Both short and long fibres were used as reinforcement, while a low viscosity epoxy resin was used as the matrix. Short fibres were alkali treated before being used to reinforce epoxy, while long fibres were used as supplied. Short and long fibres were aligned using dynamic sheet forming and manual carding, respectively. Composites were produced using hand lay-up and compression moulding. The physical and mechanical properties of fibres and composites were tested following ASTM and ISO standards. The surfaces of fibres and fracture surfaces of composites were assessed microscopically using optical microscopes and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Short harakeke and hemp fibres were alkali treated at elevated temperatures in a fibre pulping digester with a solution of 2wt% NaOH or 5wt% NaOH/2wt% Na2SO3. Single fibre tensile testing was carried out on untreated and treated fibres. It was found that harakeke fibre treated with NaOH and hemp fibre treated with NaOH/Na…
author: Le, Tan Minh
keywords: Harakeke, polymer composites, mechanical properties, dynamic sheet former, aligned fibre composites, fibre orientation, New Zealand flax, Rule of mixtures
license: https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstreams/849097e4-584e-4ae8-8519-1c6e426d728f/download
date published: 2016
date modified: 2026-07-24T05:57:30Z
provider: University Waikato
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Waikato