Fuzzy logic response to Young's modulus characterization of a flax-epoxy natural fiber composite.

Most design approaches use the experimental elastic modulus as input variable to describe the material properties. In most cases the uncertainty and the variability of the modulus are neglected. In the worst case this can lead to bad estimations of the material performance and more iterations to the final solution. The purpose of this work is to reconcile the Young's modulus of three configurations ([0]10, [0]20 and [± 45]10) of flax-epoxy composites obtained by different techniques including acoustic impulse, tensile and bending tests, according to ISO and ASTM standards. Results obtained with these techniques all show different levels of variability in Young's modulus values. A fuzzy logic model is used to obtain a simplified view of linguistic variables representing the modulus of elasticity and to reconcile different modules by including the uncertainty inherent to the different measuring techniques. Results have shown a strong potential for fuzzy logic to reconcile the disparity of Young modulus of natural fiber composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]