Modeling the Effect of Helical Fiber Structure on Wood Fiber Composite Elastic Properties

The effect of the helical wood fiber structure on in-plane composite properties has been analyzed. The used analytical concentric cylinder model is valid for an arbitrary number of phases with monoclinic material properties in a global coordinate system. The wood fiber was modeled as a three concentric cylinder assembly with lumen in the middle followed by the S3, S2 and S1 layers. Due to its helical structure the fiber tends to rotate upon loading in axial direction. In most studies on the mechanical behavior of wood fiber composites this extension-twist coupling is overlooked since it is assumed that the fiber will be restricted from rotation within the composite. Therefore, two extreme cases, first modeling fiber then modeling composite were examined: (i) free rotation and (ii) no rotation of the cylinder assembly. It was found that longitudinal fiber modulus depending on the microfibril angle in S2 layer is very sensitive with respect to restrictions for fiber rotation. In-plane Poisson's ratio was also shown to be greatly influenced. The results were compared to a model representing the fiber by its cell wall and using classical laminate theory to model the fiber. It was found that longitudinal fiber modulus correlates quite well with results obtained with the concentric cylinder model, whereas Poisson's ratio gave unsatisfactory matching. Finally using typical thermoset resin properties the longitudinal modulus and Poisson's ratio of an aligned softwood fiber composite with varying fiber content were calculated for various microfibril angles in the S2 layer.