Physico-Mechanical Characterization of Composite Materials Based on Date Palm Tree Fibers

Abstract

The aim of this research is to characterize physico-mechanically fibers extracted from different parts of a palm; This characterization shows that the physico-mechanical properties of this kind of fibers are different from one to another depending on the part from which the tested fiber was extracted. Furthermore, we performed the physico-mechanical characterization of a composite material based on these fibers and matrix Epoxy. Tensile strength tests carried out for composites with different fiber percentages (4, 7, 10 and 15%) reveal that there is an improvement in the mechanical properties of the virgin resin proportional to the fiber mass ratio up to 10%; while a degradation of these properties is observed for a fiber mass ratio of 15%. The rate of 10% corresponds to the highest value of composite modulus of elasticity with an increase of 73% compared to the virgin resin. The results of mechanical and thermo-gravimetric analysis obtained are used to valorize these fibers for possible industrial applications such as thermal insulation.

Keywords

• date palm tree
• palm
• vegetal fibers
• epoxy
• composite materials
• physico-mechanical characterization