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Natural fibers are gaining much interest in composite materials because of their potential to replace conventional glass fibers. In particular, unidirectional flax fiber composites have shown excellent mechanical properties with different thermoset matrices. However, few data are available when they are made with a biodegradable thermoplastic matrix. This paper compares the mechanical properties of two types of unidirectional flax composites using polylactic acid as the matrix: one made with layers of aligned flax rovings alone and the other containing an additional paper layer fabricated using paper making techniques. The results show that specific tensile properties of the flax/PLA (252 MPa·cm 3 ·g −1 ) and flax-paper/PLA (217 MPa·cm 3 ·g −1 ) composites are similar to those made using woven glass fabrics impregnated with epoxy (227–278 MPa·cm 3 ·g −1 ). Very high impact strength (600 J/m) was also obtained for UD flax-paper composites compared to unreinforced resin (15 J/m). Together these mechanical properties are promising for industrial applications of this new reinforcement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Natural continuous bast fibres (hemp, flax, etc.) are gaining popularity in composite materials because they can advantageously replace glass fibres. It is found that intrinsic properties of unidirectional (UD) composites are almost equivalent to those of unidirectional glass fibre composites. Unfortunately it is difficult to get repeatable results because of the inherent variability in the properties of bast fibres compared to glass fibres. Their quality is largely affected by the weather conditions, the extraction location along the plant and the techniques used to extract them (retting, bleaching, etc.). In this work, unidirectional hemp/paper/epoxy and flax/paper/epoxy composites are manufactured by adding one or two sheets of paper at the surface of a unidirectional layer of hemp or flax fibres before molding. The composites are tested under tensile loads and the results compared with those obtained for UD composites made without paper. The results show a significant increase in strength and modulus repeatability when the paper layer is present. A significant increase in strength and modulus was also obtained compared to the base epoxy properties. The resin permeability of the flax–paper reinforcement has also been evaluated and compared to that of a standard glass fabric. Globally, the results suggest that adding thin sheets of paper at the surface of reinforcement layers stabilizes and increases the composite strength but slightly reduces the Young’s modulus. However the permeability of the flax–paper reinforcement was much lower than that of the glass fabric. Modifications to the paper architecture will be required to improve this aspect. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Environment-responsive membranes were prepared by coating filter paper with poly (N-vinylcaprolactam) hydrogel. These membranes could be made to switch between hydrophobic and hydrophilic states in a reversible manner by the addition or removal of lyotropic salts. The effects of polymer loading and salt concentration on hydraulic permeability and human immunoglobulin G (hIgG) binding property of these membranes were studied. A candidate membrane possessing high hydraulic permeability and hIgG binding property was selected for carrying out protein purification experiments. This membrane demonstrated selective antibody binding, and could be used for hIgG purification from simulated cell culture supernatant. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this study, a computational micromechanics material model for the unloading behavior of paper and other nonwoven materials is presented. The asymptotic fiber and bond (AFB) model for paper elastic–plastic behavior [Sinha, S.K., Perkins, R.W., 1995. Micromechanics constitutive model for use in finite element analysis, In: Proceedings of the 1995, Joint ASME Applied Mechanics and Materials Summer Meeting, Los Angeles, CA, USA, Jun 28–30, 1995] has been extended to model the unloading process through a computational algorithm and implemented using the UMAT subroutine in ABAQUS finite element code. For every unloading increment, the material model assumes elastic unloading with a slope equal to the initial elastic modulus. The Jacobian matrix of the constitutive model is updated at every unloading increment by applying the incremental form of AFB model for a planar element with an elastic fiber and bond condition. A uniaxial tensile and a biaxial Mullen burst loading–unloading experiments were carried out for a paperboard sample and simulated using the model. The stress–strain curve and residual strain for the uniaxial loading were in good agreement with experimental results. The finite element model of the burst test with the AFB unloading material model predicted the general shape of the pressure versus deflection curve. However, the model over predicted the residual deflection by more than 50%. The loading portion of the pressure–deflection curve had a significant offset from experimental curves, and the nonlinearity in the unloading curve towards the end was not predicted. The discrepancies with experimental results are attributed to the burst test itself, model parameter estimation inadequacies, boundary conditions used in the FEA, and neglecting time-dependant effects. Nevertheless, the model can be useful in parametric studies relating microstructure to unloading behavior in structural problems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]