Influence of retting process on the thermal and mechanical properties of flax/polypropylene composites made of canadian oilseed flax fibers

Flax fibers are more and more used as reinforcing materials for composites in the field of material research because of their good mechanical properties, low abrasion, environmental friendliness and low cost. In this study, two kinds of Canadian oilseed flax fibers, dew-retted (F1) and enzyme-retted flax fibers (F2) were used as reinforcing material for flax/PP composites to investigate the influence of retting process on the composite properties Crystallization behavior, thermal stability and mechanical property of flax fiber reinforced PP composites were characterized in detail. It was shown that enzyme-retted flax with higher retting degree could lead to composites with better thermal and mechanical properties than dew-retted flax. PP composite reinforced with F2 presented 73% and 43% of tensile modulus and impact strenght higher than that of pure PP, respectively. In addtion, its tensile and flexural strengh were at least 35% higher than those of F1 reinforced PP composites.
PPS-26: Polymer Processing Society Meeting, 2010-07-04, Banff, Alberta, Canada