Compressive strength of flax fibre bundles within the stem and comparison with unidirectional flax/epoxy composites

Abstract

Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) fibres are commonly used as reinforcement of composite materials. Nevertheless, literature shows that the compressive strength of flax-based composites is rather modest compared with materials reinforced by synthetic fibres. The present article investigates the compressive strength of flax fibre bundles both within the stems and in unidirectional (UD) composites. In this way, an optimised arrangement of fibre bundles inside the plant is assumed. Damage mechanisms are found to be similar in the stem and within flax-based UD materials, namely by buckling of fibre bundles, a typical failure mechanism of UD composites. Inside the stems, this phenomenon is highlighted by nanotomography, which underlines the key role of the woody core in the buckling resistance of the plant. For UD, failure can also be studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The same ranges of average compressive strength values are estimated for flax fibre bundles, being 206\u2009MPa within the stem and 242\u2009MPa within UD composites. Finally, this study highlights that, if a flax stem is an optimised natural structure, the compressive strength of flax fibre bundles seems to be a limiting factor for structural applications of flax-based composite materials.