Impregnated fibre bundle test for natural fibres used in composites

In this study, the impregnated fibre bundle test, a common method used by carbon and glass fibre manufacturers to determine the properties of fibres used in composites, was adapted for natural fibres and validated by a round robin test on one type of natural fibres, namely flax fibres. Five European laboratories have carried out in parallel the impregnated fibre bundle test, on the same batch of hackled flax (long fibres), to check the applicability and reliability of this modified method on natural fibres. The results were compared to the more traditional single fibre test on elementary fibres. The back-calculated fibre stiffness shows a very low scatter between the five laboratories of less than +/- 5% (59.8 +/- 2.4 GPa, as measured between 0 and 0.1% strain). The fibre ultimate tensile strength of 527 +/- 138 MPa has a higher scatter, compared to stiffness values, as this property is highly sensitive to imperfections and flaws.