A mechanical analysis of a polypropylene copolymer reinforced by alfa fibers
Résumé
The main purpose of this work consists to characterize the mechanical performance of a copolymer polypropylene filled with Alfa fibers. The Alfa is the Arab name of the esparto grass or "stippa tenacissima" plant. The polypropylene used is a commercial grade, named PPC7712, already studied in static and dynamic tensile tests. In the first part of this study the elaboration of the polypropylene reinforced with these natural fibers was presented along with a microscopic analysis that showed us a good homogeneous distribution of natural fibers on the polypropylene matrix. The second part of this work present the analyses of the mechanical behavior of these composites blend. Contrary to classical research on polymer materials dedicated only to monotonic tensile tests, cyclic loading-unloading tests and relaxation tests are performed on the virgin and filled polypropylene material. Reinforcement by these natural fibers shows clearly an impact in the improvement of mechanical properties of this composite.