Title
Natural filler-reinforced composites: Comparison of the reinforcing potential among technical fibers stem fragments and industrial by-products
Authors
JORDI GIRONES LOAN T. T. VO ERIKA DI GIUSEPPE and PATRICK NAVARD

Received This paper is dedicated to Acad. Cristofor I. Simionescu, a great scientist, a visionary and a kind man of many talents. In 1991, he organized a meeting between P. Navard and “Petru Poni” Institute. The collaboration between our two institutions i
Published Volume 51 Issue 9-10 September-December
Keywords natural filler-reinforced composites, natural fibers, mechanical properties, rheological properties

Abstract
Fillers, originating from eleven different plants, and which can be divided into three classes: technical fibers (curauà, jute and flax), crop stem fragments (miscanthus, sorghum and maize) and industrial by-products (agave, oak chips, wet draff, wheat straws and vine shoots), were compared to glass fibers in low density polyethylene and polypropylene reinforced composites, applying similar compounding and processing conditions. On average, modulus and strength were reduced by factors of 1.5, 2 and 3, when glass fibers were replaced by technical fillers, plant stem fragments and by-product fillers respectively. There was not much difference as to the decrease in impact strength among the three classes. The fillers that exhibited a good reinforcing capacity in one matrix provided comparatively low performance in the other. The evolution of the tensile strength, elastic modulus and elongation at break of low density polyethylene composites reinforced with curauà, flax, jute and glass fibers is not correlated with that of polypropylene-based composites.