Composites Part B 167 (2019) 461–466

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Composites Part B
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compositesb

Production of epoxy composites reinforced by different natural fibers and T

their mechanical properties
Engin Sarikayaa,∗, Hasan Çallioğlub, Hakan Demirelc
a
Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, 34437, Beyoğlu, Istanbul, Turkey
b
Pamukkale University, Faculty of Technology, Mechatronics Engineering, 20020, Kınıklı, Denizli, Turkey
c
Middle East Technical University, Faculty of Engineering, Chemical Engineering, 06800, Çankaya, Ankara, Turkey

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The aim of this research is the production of epoxy resin composites reinforced by birch, palm, and eucalyptus
Molded fiber fibers with resin transfer molding technique and molded fiber production technique combination. The tensile
Natural fiber stress of birch, palm, and eucalyptus reinforced epoxy composites were determined as 29.53, 42.24, and
Epoxy composites 45.28 MPa, respectively. Bending stress of birch, palm and eucalyptus reinforced epoxy composites were found
as 58.83, 68.58, and 79.92 MPa, respectively. The birch epoxy composite had 0.105 J impact energy while palm
and eucalyptus epoxy composites were determined as 0.130 and 0.124 J, respectively. It is clearly observed that
fiber type was very effective on the mechanical properties of composites. The results of studies showed that
molded fiber production method had a very promising future for the development of natural fiber reinforced
composites.

1. Introduction
There is a challenge in every industry to convert non-sustainable
products with sustainable ones. Researches, such as Life Cycle
Assessments and Carbon Footprint Analyses force industries to find
alternative materials. These trends are also pushing composites in-
dustries to find new matrixes and fibers. Glass fibers are questioned and
compared with the natural fibers to find a sustainable replacement for a
wide range of use from packaging to automotive industries. The pro-
duction process of fiber-based molded products is a dominating tech-
nology used for packaging materials from natural fibers.
The natural composites, reinforced with natural fibers, have gained
importance and value in recent years. Natural fibers; such as flax, jute,
and kenaf are used as reinforcing the material in polymer-based ma-
trices. Environmental regulations, sustainability concepts, ecological,
social, and economic awareness increase the importance of natural fiber
composites [1]. Natural fibers have high specific properties such as
impact resistance, stiffness, flexibility, and modulus compared to tra-
ditional materials. They have some other desirable properties, such as
low cost, low density, less vibration damping and enhanced recovery
[2]. Wide availability, the absence of associated health hazards and
relative less abrasion resistance are other advantageous properties [3].
Every industry tries to decrease it's dependency on fossil fuel based
materials. Environmentally friendly sustainable material needs are
increasing day by day. The alternative studies related to the use of
natural fibers are needed to be increased to replace glass and carbon
fiber reinforcements. The producibility of natural fiber reinforced ma-
terials and their properties have taken attention in recent years.
Aerospace and the automotive industry have already shifted from steel
to aluminum and now shifting from aluminum to fiber reinforced
composites for some applications. The developments in natural fiber
composites and plastics resulted in predictions of approximately 15%
decrease in total automotive weight in the near future [4]. Natural fi-
bers have less density than the synthetic types and this property makes
them lighter than conventional composites. Electrical vehicle industry
is looking for the weight reduction ways in order to decrease the added
weight with the batteries [5].
The renewable fibers have high potential due to low cost, high
production volume, and their advantageous properties in other markets
[6]. When compared with the glass fibers, the production process of
natural fibers generally consumes 60% less energy [7]. Enhanced en-
ergy recovery and carbon dioxide neutrality are additional features that
make natural fibers more prevalent in use because of their en-
vironmentally friendly nature [8].
Composite industries have extensive experience in the formation of
glass and carbon fibers during the production of composite materials.
Even this extensive experience, wrinkling of the fibers and distortions
are the common problems in the composite production process [9].

∗
Corresponding author. DENTAS Paper Industry Organize San, Bl. 1. Kısım, Nevzat Koru Cd. No:15 TR, 20330, Denizli, Turkey.
E-mail address: engin.sarikaya@dentaskagit.com.tr (E. Sarikaya).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2019.03.020
Received 20 July 2018; Received in revised form 9 October 2018; Accepted 10 March 2019
Available online 13 March 2019
1359-8368/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
E. Sarikaya, et al.
Table 1
Properties of used epoxy resin.
Viscosity at 25 °C (mPa s) Density (g/cm3) Curing Time (h)
23 °C 80 °C
1200–1400 1.150 48 4 2
Fig. 1. Design of molded fiber plate production system.
Several studies have been conducted over natural fiber composites in a
variety of production methods. Every study ended with a common
conclusion which is “poor fiber-matrix adhesion” [10]. The conven-
tional extrusion and injection molding methods reduce fiber lengths
and damage fibers during the production processes of natural compo-
sites [11]. Kraft pulp fibers shortened from 2.3 mm to 0.4 mm and da-
maged during reinforcing polypropylene matrix composites [12].
Natural fibers are classified into six groups, which are bast fibers
(jute, flax, hemp, ramie and kenaf), leaf fibers (abaca, sisal and pine-
apple), seed fibers (coir, cotton and kapok), core fibers (kenaf, hemp
and jute), grass and reed fibers (wheat, corn and rice), and all other
types (wood and roots) [1]. In our research, we used oil palm fiber,
birch fiber, and eucalyptus fiber.
Oil palm fibers are the byproduct from the palm mills [13]. These
fibers create great environmental problems [14]. Oil palm fibers have
Fig. 2. Injection of resin/hardener mixture into fiber plate.
Composites Part B 167 (2019) 461–466
Table 2
Fiber morphological properties of pulps.
Pulp Type Fiber Length (mm) Fine Content (%) Average Width (μm)
100 °C Eucalyptus 0.763 3.04 16.70
Birch 1.059 6.73 25.00
Palm 0.613 11.05 17.70
Fig. 3. Tensile test results of samples.
higher toughness among the other natural fibers [15]. High toughness
makes them a potential reinforcement in polymers [16]. Moreover,
palm fiber has a low value of density compared to coir, hemp, and sisal
fibers. This makes them an ideal fiber when the weight reduction is
needed [17]. Birch fibers are mainly classified as wood fibers. These
fibers used in polymer composites have a large variety of shapes and
can be used alone or in combination with other materials [18]. Eu-
calyptus is a fast growing plant, and commonly grown in tropical re-
gions. They have good fiber quality and relatively cheap market price
[19]. Thus eucalyptus fibers are short and traditionally used in re-
inforcement of cement-based materials [20]. They are widely used
throughout the world, especially in the paper industry [21].
It was targeted to produce natural fiber-epoxy resin composites with
the combination of molded fiber production method and resin transfer
molding (RTM) processes to analyze the mechanical properties of these
composites in this work. The effect of fiber types on strength property is
also compared by using three different natural fibers.
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E. Sarikaya, et al.
Fig. 4. Tensile strength of epoxy neat, natural composites and fibers.
Fig. 5. Compression test results of samples.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
The natural fibers used for reinforcement are birch, eucalyptus, and
palm fibers. The chemi-thermomechanical pulp (CTMP) of birch was
kindly supplied from SCA (Sweden). Palm fibers were supplied from
EKO Pulp and Paper Company (Malesia) as the kraft pulp type.
Bleached sulphate pulp of eucalyptus fibers was supplied from G.A.
Paper International (Canada) Company as bleached sulphate pulp.
Epoxy resin and hardener were supplied from Huntsman Composites.
The market name of epoxy resin and hardener were Araldite® LY 1564
and Aradur® 3487, respectively. The chemical content of hardener was
expressed as isophorone/2,2-dimethyl-4 methylenebis(cyclohex-
ylamine). Properties of the epoxy resin are given in Table 1 according to
supplier datasheet.
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2.2. Method
2.2.1. Fiber plate production
Pulps were pretreated with Regmed Laboratory Disintegrator
(Brazil) according to TAPPI T 205 sp 02. After disintegration, fiber
morphological properties of pulps analyzed with Optest Fiber Quality
Analyzer (FQA) (Canada) according to ISO 16065-1. Then, molded
plates from different kind of fibers were produced using a specially
designed system. The system was based on the same principle as con-
ventional molded pulp production. The schematic description of the
production system for molded fiber plate is given in Fig. 1.
In this system, fibers were molded over the wire mesh and water
was actuated with pressure difference and passed through the poros-
ities. Fibers were bounded naturally over the plate-shaped, wire mesh
coated mold. After fiber formation, molds were heated up to 280 °C
with cartridge heaters and bounded water between fibers was removed.
Fiber plates having 1110 g/m2 of basic weight were produced from
each fiber source.
E. Sarikaya, et al.
Fig. 6. Bending test results of samples.
Fig. 7. Izod test results of composites with respect to fiber source.
2.2.2. Injection of resin into natural fiber plates
A vacuum assisted RTM system was designed for resin injection into
molded fiber plates and curing operation. Resin and hardener were
mixed with a suggested ratio, 100/34 (w/w), respectively. The dry fiber
plates were placed between airtight molds in RTM system and then,
resin/hardener mixture was injected from one side. At the same time, a
vacuum was applied to the other side of the plate in order to obtain a
homogeneous distribution of resin/hardener mixture without air bub-
bles. The mixture ratio of resin + hardener/fiber is applied as 13/7 (w/
w), respectively. Fig. 2 shows resin injection into the molded fiber
plate. After the injection process, the molds were heated by cartridge
heaters for curing. Curing completed 2 h at 100 °C.
2.2.3. Tests for mechanical properties
Tensile, compression, and bending strength tests were conducted in
Zwick/Roell Z010 (Germany) test device according to ASTM D3039,
ISO 604, and ISO 178, respectively. The load was applied with 1 mm/
min displacement ratio. Izod test samples were prepared according to
ASTM D256 and the test was performed in CEAST P/N 6958.000 test
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device (Italy).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Properties of pulps
The fiber morphological properties of pulps were given in Table 2
according to FQA results. Birch fibers were longer and wider than eu-
calyptus and palm fibers. Reported fiber lengths were weighted average
fiber lengths. Therefore, small particles were also affecting the average
value. The fine content of palm fibers was higher than other pulp types.
The high percentage of fines caused a reduction in fiber length of palm
fibers. Besides, the average width of birch fibers was thicker than
others. These differences might be caused by fiber source and pulping
technique.
3.2. Tensile strength
Tensile test results of palm/epoxy, eucalyptus/epoxy, and birch/
E. Sarikaya, et al.
Fig. 8. Mechanical properties comparison diagram.
epoxy composites were given in Fig. 3 with respect to strain. Eu-
calyptus/epoxy composites had better performance among the three
types of composites. They could withstand up to 45 MPa tensile stress
with 3.1% strain. Palm/epoxy composites had slightly less tensile
stresses compared to the eucalyptus/epoxy composites. Their strain
properties are almost similar. Birch/epoxy composites performed
lowest tensile property with an average of 30 MPa tensile stress and
2.2% strain.
Fiber loading of Birch/Epoxy, Palm/Epoxy, and Eucalyptus/Epoxy
composites was 35% by weight. Tensile Strength variation of Epoxy
neat, natural composites and fibers are given in Fig. 4.
The tensile strength of birch, palm, and eucalyptus molded fiber
plates without epoxy matrix was varied between 3 and 5 MPa since
tensile strength of Epoxy neat is 75 MPa [22].
Eucalyptus pulp was produced with sulphate method, although
birch pulp was produced with the semi-chemical method. Generally,
semi-chemical pulps have medium strength properties, while chemical
pulps have high strength [23]. Besides, used palm pulp was produced
from the shell of palm fruit with unbleached sulphate pulping method.
It was including high fine content, therefore, had lower strength
properties when compared with eucalyptus pulp.
The surface of eucalyptus fibers was more activated because of
bleaching when compared with semi-chemical fibers. Semi-chemical
fiber production method leaves more lignin layers on fiber surface
[24–26]. The surface of used birch fibers was including more lignin
than bleached eucalyptus pulp and the fine content of birch pulp was
higher than eucalyptus pulp. Moreover, fiber surfaces of birch pulp
were exposed to more mechanical damage during pulp production be-
cause of its production method.
All these mentioned mechanisms about birch pulp affected strength
property of birch/epoxy composite negatively. Thus, bonding ability of
bleached pulps is always higher than other types of pulps under in-
terest. Therefore, it was the expected results to observe high strength
values for eucalyptus/epoxy composites.
3.3. Compression strength
Compression test results of palm/epoxy, eucalyptus/epoxy, and
birch/epoxy composites were given in Fig. 5. Compression strength
mechanism is a function of bulk density, fiber orientation, and inter-
fiber bonding for fiber-based products. This mechanism is also valid for
natural fiber and resin composites as seen in compression strength
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results. According to obtained results, eucalyptus/epoxy composites
were more durable to compression than birch and palm based compo-
sites. Additionally, palm/epoxy composites had higher compression
strength than birch based one. The compression strain values were
parallel with compression strength values in terms of an order.
3.4. Bending strength
Bending test results of palm, eucalyptus and birch fiber based epoxy
composites were given in Fig. 6. Similar to other mechanical tests,
bending stiffness and bending elasticity results of the samples were
different. According to these results, bending stiffness order or com-
posites were as follows; eucalyptus/epoxy, palm/epoxy, and birch/
epoxy from highest to lowest, respectively. Bending elasticity sequence
was also in a similar manner. Since the only difference between com-
posite samples is natural fiber type, bending stiffness and bending
elasticity results are directly connected to the used fiber properties.
3.5. Izod impact properties
Izod impact test results of epoxy composites reinforced with palm,
eucalyptus, and birch fibers are given in Fig. 7. Palm fiber based epoxy
composite exhibited best Izod impact result with an average 0.130 J
energy absorption. Eucalyptus fiber based epoxy composite absorbed
slightly less impact energy with 0.124 J. The impact energy of birch
fiber based epoxy composite was found as 0.105 J.
Izod impact properties of natural fiber based products are directly
influenced by the presence of hydrogen bonds between fibers and these
bonds are always weaker than their fibers. Bonded area between fibers
differs depending on fiber length, fiber thickness, refining degree etc.
The pulse energy absorption of fiber reinforced epoxy composites are
affected by fiber type and also bonding ability of fibers. Pulse energy
absorption values of composites show that birch fibers were more
brittle than others. Palm and eucalyptus fiber-based composites had
relatively close Izod impact results.
Tensile, bending, compression, and Izod impact behaviors of fiber/
epoxy composites were summarized in Fig. 8.
4. Conclusion
The natural fiber based composites were produced with the com-
bination of molded fiber production method and vacuum assisted RTM.
E. Sarikaya, et al.
In this combined new technique, fiber reinforced epoxy composites
successfully produced at 5 mm thickness. In order to evaluate the effect
of fiber type on composite properties, birch, palm, and eucalyptus were
used as reinforcement. It was clearly observed that used fiber type had
great importance on strength characteristics of the composites.
Bleached fiber with lower fine content gave better results. In addition,
the fiber produced with mechanical treatments gave poorer strength
properties than chemically produced fiber because of mechanical da-
mage on the fibers. Therefore, these reasons are attributed to the better
performance of eucalyptus/epoxy composites. The highest tensile
strength and bending stress were found for eucalyptus fiber reinforced
composites (45.25, and 79.92 MPa, respectively). Palm fiber reinforced
composite had the highest impact energy (130 J). Consequently, the
combination of molded fiber production method and vacuum assisted
RTM technique was very promising for the development of eco-friendly
engineering materials, and selection of fiber source had great influence
on the obtained strength of composites. Application of this combined
method to three-dimensional natural fiber reinforced composites will
be very helpful for the development of this area in the near future.
Declaration of interest
The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are
responsible for the content and writing of this article.
Acknowledgements
The authors would express their thanks to Pamukkale University,
Turkey and Dentas Paper Industry Inc. for their kindly supports.
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