Multi-scale investigation into the mechanical behaviour of flax in yarn, cloth and laminate form

Due to environmental challenges it is important to investigate potentially more sustainable new materials, including natural fibre reinforced composites. Whilst a number of natural reinforcements show promise there is a concern that laminate properties are too difficult to predict due to the lack of uniformity in natural fibres. The paper quantitatively evaluates the high variability observed at yarn scale, at cloth scale, which shows significant decreases, and at laminate scale, showing comparable variability to synthetic based composites. This demonstrates that natural fibre reinforced composites have reproducible properties at the macroscale level and provides a pathway to application in industry.