High performance aligned short natural fibre – Epoxy composites

Aligned short harakeke fibre (New Zealand flax) mats were produced using dynamic sheet forming, impregnated with epoxy resin, then pressed and cured on a compression moulder to manufacture composite materials. These composites were found to have significantly higher tensile properties than planar random oriented short fibre composites; the tensile strength (136 MPa) obtained for the composites is higher than any seen in the literature to date for short natural fibre composites. Fibre orientation was not affected by fibre content despite the higher processing pressure required and fibre orientation factors obtained from Modified Rule of Mixtures equations for Young's modulus and tensile strength were found to be similar.