Mechanical Properties of Composites Reinforced with Technical Embroidery Made of Flax Fibers

Abstract

The main purpose of the article is to present the new possibilities of producing composite reinforcement with the use of a computer embroidery machine. This kind of production is in line with the principles of sustainable development. The study below presents the results of strength tests of composites containing sevenfold embroidery systems. Each variant included different directions of arrangement of individual layers as a reinforcement. Flax roving was used to strengthen the composite. Flax fibers are characterized by the highest strength among all-natural fibers, at the level of 50–80 cN/tex. The composite was made using the vacuum bag method, using epoxy resin. The embroidery was made on a ZSK embroidery machine, type JCZA 0109-550. The test material was subjected to strength tests—tensile strength, tensile elongation, and bending strength, on the INSTRON machine. Based on the research, it can be concluded that the arrangement of the roving in the direction of the tensile force allowed to obtain the best mechanical properties.

Keywords

• technical embroidery
• embroidery
• embroidery machine
• automated fiber placement
• lay-up
• composite
• vacuum infusion
• flax fibers
• particle-reinforcement