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Procedia Chemistry 19 (2016) 419 – 425

5th International Conference on Recent Advances in Materials, Minerals and Environment

(RAMM) & 2nd International Postgraduate Conference on Materials, Mineral and Polymer
(MAMIP), 4-6 August 2015

Predicting the Tensile Modulus of Randomly Oriented Nonwoven

Kenaf/Epoxy Composites
N. G. Andrea, Z. A. Mohd. Ishaka,b,*
a
School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang,
Malaysia
b
Cluster of Polymer Composites, Science and Engineering Research Centre, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong
Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

Abstract

As there has been an increasing trend in using nonwovensnatural fiber in composites, there is a need to find good
micromechanical models to represent their behavior. In this study,randomly oriented nonwoven kenaf/epoxy composites at
various fiber loading has been fabricated by using resin transfer moulding (RTM) method. Experimental results show that
increasing the fiber loading has led to the increment of tensile modulus. The validity of rule of mixtures (ROM) and modified
rule of mixtures (MROM) which includes model by Krenchel and Nairn has also been analyzed. ROM has failed to predict the
tensile modulus of the composites. Meanwhile, MROM managed to produce an accurate tensile modulus prediction due the
inclusion of fiber length factor by Nairn model and fiber orientation factor by Krenchel model.
© 2016
2016Published by Elsevier
The Authors. B.V. by
Published This is an open
Elsevier access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
B.V.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Peer-review under responsibility of School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia
Keywords:Resin transfer moulding; Natural fiber-reinforced polymer composites; Micromechanical model; Elastic modulus

1. Introduction

A great deal of attention has been directed to the development of green materials nowadays due to environmental

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +604-599-5999; fax:+604-594-1011.

E-mail address: zarifin.ishak@gmail.com

1876-6196 © 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia
doi:10.1016/j.proche.2016.03.033
420 N.G. Andre and Z.A. Mohd. Ishak / Procedia Chemistry 19 (2016) 419 – 425

concerns. Polymer reinforced with natural fibers is one of those that has been progressing well1. The upsurge in the
usage of natural fibers in many applications has led to the utilization of nonwovens natural fiber. Due to its
advantages such as lightweight, excellent strength, sound efficiency, flexibility and the attractive cost/performance
ratio, there has been an increasing trend in using nonwovens to make composites for automotive interior
components2. It is also important to note that nonwovens also possess vital intrinsic quality that reduces
delamination issue as it provides excellent z-directional properties3.
One of the major reason for using fibrous reinforcement is to provide stiffness where it is a crucial properties
especially in structural or semi-structural applications4. Stiffness, which was defined by the modulus of elasticity is
basically a numerical evaluation of the ratio of the increment of stress to the increment of strain. Before it is
measured or characterized, prediction can be made by utilizing various micromechanical models that has been
developed and established in different studies before. However, there have been little studies in the implementation
of micromechanical models on randomly oriented natural fiber nonwoven composites 5. Hence, there is a need to
find good micromechanical models to represent the tensile modulus of this type of composites. This is possible by
comparing the experimental data with the predicted results. It is also important to note that the intrinsic properties of
fibers are key factor to produce an accurate prediction of Young’s modulus.
The aim of the current study is to analyze the validity of two micromechanical models in predicting the tensile
modulus of randomly oriented nonwoven kenaf/epoxy composites. First, resin transfer moulding was utilized to
produce the composite. Second, the intrinsic properties of fibers such as aspect ratio and longitudinal Young’s
modulus were characterized. The measured intrinsic properties were then applied onto the rule of mixtures (ROM)
and modified rule of mixtures (MROM) to predict the tensile modulus of composites over a range of fiber volume
fraction, Vf (0.15-0.42). Finally, the predictions were compared to the experimental results and analysis of the
comparison were carried out.

2. Theoretical background

2.1. Rule of mixtures (ROM)

The rule of mixtures is the simplest model that is used to predict the elastic modulus of composites. This model
allows elastic modulus calculation for composites by assuming equal amount of strain experienced on both matrix
and fiber. The strain originates from the application of uniform stress over a uniform cross-sectional area. The
equation of the model is expressed as below:

EC E f V f  EmVm
(1)

Where, Em, Ef, Vmand Vf represent the moduli and volume fractions of the matrix and fiber respectively and EC
represents the modulus of composite. The ROM model is suitable to estimate the tensile modulus of composites with
aligned continuous fiber. This simple model assumes that there are equal strain experienced in both matrix and fiber.

2.2. Modified rule of mixtures

The rule of mixtures can be extended to include the effect of fiber length and orientation. It is expressed as
below:

EC K lK o E f V f  E mVm (2)

Where, ηl is the fiber length distribution factor and ηo is the fiber orientation distribution factor while the effect of
voids has been neglected6. In this particular study, the fiber orientation factor was based on Krenchel’s7:

Ko cos 4 D o  (3)
 N.G. Andre and Z.A. Mohd. Ishak / Procedia Chemistry 19 (2016) 419 – 425 421

Where, by αo is the fiber orientation limit angle. Based on previous study, the orientation factor, ηo for laminates
containing an inplane random fiber orientation is 0.3758. On the other hand, the ηlin this study was calculated based
on the shear lag theory which is given by:

§ El ·
tanh¨ ¸
© 2 ¹
Kl 1 (4)
El
2

Where the shear-parameter β represents the coefficient of stress concentration rate at fibers' end and l is the length of
fiber.
The shear lag theory which was first derived by Cox in 1952 is one of the common theory used to predict the
longitudinal modulus of a unidirectional fiber composite 9. It is based on stress transfer analysis of a discontinuous
fiber with length l and radius r encapsulated in a concentric cylindrical shell of matrix. Piggott has later provides a
complete analytical derivation of the equation to estimate the interface parameter for both square and hexagonal
fiber packing10.Classical shear lag analysis assumes that both matrix and fiber are perfectly elastic and isotropic with
perfect bonding with each other. Furthermore, the fiber is assumed to only sustain axial load and the transfer of the
applied load from the matrix to the fiber occurred by interfacial shear stress with zero tensile stress at fiber ends.
Hence, maximum tensile stress and maximum shear stress will occur at the middle fiber and fibers' end respectively.
The classical shear-lag theory by Cox however failed to accurately predict the stress transfer and energy in
axisymmetric fiber/matrix11. Nairn therefore has developed an improved shear-lag parameter,β, which was based on
exact elasticity equations for axisymmetric stress states with transversely isotropic materials 11. Nairn then further
extended the optimal shear-lag analysis to a generalized case by allowing shear stresses to be described by shape
functions12. The new generalized shear-lag also took into account the imperfect interface of fiber/matrix by
including interface parameter, DS. The generalized shear-lag parameter is as follow:

1
ª ª ºº 2
« « »»
« 2 « E f V f  EmVm »»
E « « »»
« r 2 E f Em « Vm 1 ª1 § 1 · V º 1 »» (5)
« «  « ln¨ ¸ 1 » 
m
»»
« «¬ f
4G 2G «¬Vm ¨© V f  F ¸¹ 2 » rDs » »
¼ ¼¼
¬ m

Where Gf and Gm refer to the shear modulus of fiber and matrix respectively. Included in the equation is parameter
χ. Without the parameter, denominator of Eq. 4 would approach infinity when Vfapproaches 0. Comparison between
shear-lag predictions and a finite element analysis for both isotropic and anisotropic fibers at different Ef/Em shows
that excellent agreement were attained when χ = 0.00912.

3. Experimental

3.1. Materials

In this study, needle-punched nonwoven kenaf fibre (KF) mat with stitching density of 50 cm-2 and areal density
of 1100 g/m2 was supplied by Kenaf Natural Fiber Industries. The average density of a single KF extracted from the
nonwoven mat is 1.4 g/cm3. Bisphenol A epoxy resins CP 210DF part A and epoxy hardener CP 210DF part B used
in the study were supplied by Camel Polymer Sdn. Bhd. The epoxy resins system has blend viscosity and density of
1.61 Pa.s and 1.13 g/cm3, respectively.
422 N.G. Andre and Z.A. Mohd. Ishak / Procedia Chemistry 19 (2016) 419 – 425

3.2. Single fiber properties

Fiber length distributions were characterized according to the ISO 6989 Method A. 500 individual fibers were
extracted from the nonwoven mat for the length distribution measurement. Fiber diameter distributions were
measured under the optical microscope model OlympusBX61. 200 individual fiber’s diameters were recorded.
The longitudinal tensile modulus Efof single KF were measured directly in accordance with ASTM C 1557 by
utilizing the miniature tensile tester model Lex810 Dia-stron with a load cell of 2000 g and a rate of upper clamp
displacement of 3 mm/min. The Ef of 20 single KF extracted from the nonwoven mat were measured. Prior to the
test, the fibers were dried in a circulating oven at 60ºC for 4h.

3.3. Composites fabrication

Composite laminates were fabricated using the resin transfer moulding machine type Hypaject MKV equipped
with 2 reciprocating pumps. The ratio of hardener to epoxy resin was 1:2. Prior to moulding, the nonwoven KF were
re-dried at 60°C for 4 h. The mixtures were shot into a mould containing different loading of nonwoven KF mat.
The composites then underwent post-curing at 60ºC for 24 h. The composites were cut down into tensile test
samples by using band-saw.

3.4. Fiber volume fraction

Fiber volume fractions of the composite laminates were determined by using the equation below:

nAw
Vf (6)
Ufd

in which n represents the number of nonwoven mat layer, Aw is the areal weight of one layer of nonwoven mat, ρf is
the density of kenaf fibre and d is the laminate thickness.

3.5. Composites tensile testing

Tensile modulus were evaluated according to ASTM D3039 standard by using the INSTRON 5969 universal
testing machine equipped with an extensometer. The test machine was built in with a 50 kN load cell and operated at
rate of 2 mm/min.The results of at least five samples were taken as average.

4. Results and discussion

4.1. Fiber properties

Table 1 shows the physical properties and tensile modulus of single kenaf fiber extracted from the nonwoven
mat. Due to the nature of RTM processing method, there will be no alteration on the dimension of the fibre even
after the moulding stage. This is because the nonwoven mat will remain intact inside the mould during fabrication
and the chances of fiber breakage are very low. Measurement of both length and diameter also reveal a considerably
large standard deviations which are quite common in natural fiber. The average Ef obtained from the miniature
tensile test was within the range of experimental values reported in previous literatures 13,14,15.

Table 1. Properties of single kenaf fibres.

Mean Length, mm 40.10 ± 1.74

Mean Diameter, µm 63.79 ± 37.37
Longitudinal tensile modulus, GPa 26.06 ± 6.63
 N.G. Andre and Z.A. Mohd. Ishak / Procedia Chemistry 19 (2016) 419 – 425 423

4.2. Effect of fiber loading

The experimental tensile modulus of nonwoven kenaf/epoxy composites at different fiber loading is presented in
Fig. 1. It can be observed that the tensile modulus increase as the fiber loading increases. The addition of 1 layer of
nonwoven kenaf mat which was equivalent to 0.15 Vfincreases the tensile modulus of neat epoxy by 66 %. Further
addition of nonwoven mats; 0.31 and 0.42 Vfincrease the tensile modulus by 106% and 185% respectively.The
incorporation of stiffer fiber that possesses higher tensile modulus than the matrix will inhibit the movement of the
polymer chain thus increasing the tensile modulus of the composites.
These values are higher than those reported in other study in which compression moulding was used to produce
nonwoven kenaf mats16. This proves that consolidation of nonwoven mat by needle punching will yield composites
with higher tensile modulus as compared to nonwovens formed via hot compression. This is due to the hollow
cylinders of needle path that was produced in the needle punching process aids in the resin penetration into the mat.
Consequently, void content in the composites will be lower, hence explained the superior tensile modulus.

6
Tensile Modulus, EC (GPa)

0
Neat epoxy 0.15 0.31 0.42

Fibre Volume Fraction, Vf

Fig. 1. Tensile modulus of epoxy and its composites at different fiber volume fraction.

4.2. Predictions of tensile modulus

Fig.2 shows the prediction of tensile modulus by Rule of Mixtures (ROM). It can be observed that the ROM
consistently overestimates the tensile modulus. The deviation ranges from 80 to 130 % at varied fiber loading (see
Table 3). The failure of ROM to predict the tensile modulus correctly is due to several reasons. First, the model fails
to take into account the orientation of the nonwoven mat. ROM is basically used for composites reinforced with
unidirectional fiber. Nonwoven kenaf mat that has been used in this study however are randomly oriented. ROM
also does not take into account the length and diameter distribution of the fiber. Apart from that, the model also does
not take into consideration the fiber-matrix adhesion.
424 N.G. Andre and Z.A. Mohd. Ishak / Procedia Chemistry 19 (2016) 419 – 425

Table 2. Other material properties required for micromechanical models calculation.

Material property Value

Measured epoxy density 1.138 g/cm3
Epoxy Poisson’s ratio17 0.39 ± 0.041
18
Assumed natural fiber Poisson’s ratio 0.11

Fig. 2 also shows the prediction of tensile modulus by MROM which includes Krenchel model and Nairn’s
shear-lag theory. Due to limited study, the interface parameter, DS of hemp fiber (DS = 0.242 GPa/mm) was used to
calculate the Nairn shear-lag parameter5.Other properties that are required in the calculation of fiber and matrix
shear modulus(needed in Nairn’s shear-lag theory) are summarized in Table 2. Both shear moduli were calculated
by using the following equation:

E
G (7)
21  v 

Where, by G, E and v represent the shear modulus, elastic modulus and Poisson’s ratio of either fiber or matrix,
respectively. Unlike ROM, the MROM consist of Nairn model which took into consideration the dimension of the
fiber and the adhesion between matrix and fiber. It also allows the inclusion of orientation factor by Krenchel in the
calculation. The inclusion of these factors has produced an accurate prediction of tensile modulus. The deviations
were considerably small and ranges only from -3 to 8 %.

14
ROM
12 MROM
Tensile modulus, EC (GPa)

Experimental
10

0
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Fiber volume fraction, Vf

Fig.2. Prediction and experimental tensile modulus

Table 3. Percentage of models deviation from experimental

Fiber volume fraction, Vf ROM (%) MROM (%)

0.15 81.6 -3.0
0.31 136.8 8.1
0.42 119.3 -6.9
 N.G. Andre and Z.A. Mohd. Ishak / Procedia Chemistry 19 (2016) 419 – 425 425

5. Conclusions

Nonwoven kenaf/epoxy composites ranges from 0.15 to 0.42Vf were successfully fabricated by using resin
transfer moulding (RTM). The tensile modulus of the composites increase as the fiber loading increases. The high
tensile modulus of the fiber was responsible for the trend. By applying the intrinsic properties information into the
two models, it was found that the percentage of deviations of MROM which includes model by Krenchel and Nairn,
were much smaller than ROM at any given fiber loading. ROM failed to predict the tensile modulus of the
composites correctly. On the other hand, MROM managed to produce an accurate tensile modulus prediction
because of the inclusion of fiber length factor by Nairn model and fiber orientation factor by Krenchel model.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to recognize the financial support given by Universiti Sains Malaysia and the Ministry of
Higher Education by providing RUC Grant (Grant no:1001/PBAHAN/814134) and LRGS Grant (Grant
no:1001/PKT/8640012), respectively.

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