Manufacture and Characterization of Cola Lépidota Reinforcements for Composite Applications

This study represents the first works on manufacture of reinforcements for composite applications such as yarns and fabrics using a tropical fiber extracted from bast Cola Lepidota (CL) plant. Different types products were produced, including twisted untwisted woven quasi-unidirectional to samples. At each scale, experimental characterizations textile mechanical properties carried out; these are compared those given in literature concerning natural materials. The results show that tenacity CL is higher than similar based flax fibers, which an important result weaveability rovings. fabric architecture reduces waviness shows promising tensile fabrics. On scale composites, developments made it possible achieve comparable, particularly stiffness, achieved by composites fibers. objectives this paper highlight advantages drawbacks different reinforcements, present characterization