In-and-out-of plane mechanical properties of hand lay-up vegetal fiber reinforced polyester resin composites

The results presented in this paper belong to the mechanical characterization of vegetal woven fabric reinforced composites with polyester resin as the matrix and fabrics made of cotton, jute and flax fibers. Test specimens were manufactured using a simple hand lay-up molding process. A group of test specimens was reinforced with the woven fabrics as delivered by the supplier, while another group was reinforced with woven fabrics that were chemically treated with Sodium hydroxide NaOH at 6% w/v for 48 hours. The fabrics were then neutralized and dried in an oven. Mechanical characterizations were performed using traction, compression, in-plane shear and interlaminar (out of plane) shear tests. Results show that the untreated flax fiber composite has the best specific properties among the three vegetal composites.