Stiffness Prediction in Green Composites Using Homogenization Techniques

1 Abstract Bio-based materials offer interesting solutions to sustainable and eco-friendly industrial applications in the future. In this study micromechanical modeling and Mori-Tanaka mean field homogenization technique is used for stiffness prediction in short flax fiber reinforced PLA biopolymer. The fiber geometry distribution is considered in the homogenization along with the orientation distribution. The concept of multi-phase composite is used to describe the distribution of geometry that is typical for natural fibers. In this concept the fibers were classified into N classes with different geometry. Composites with 20 and 30 wt% of flax fibers were manufactured using compounding followed by injection molding process. Fiber degradation has been tracked and characterized for the implementation in micromechanical modeling and homogenization. Mechanical properties of the constituents are characterized as they provide essential information in micromechanical modeling. The fiber orientation distribution is investigated using Synchrotron tomography and second order orientation tensors are identified for the composites. The homogenization results with the consideration of fiber geometry distribution are compared with experimental results. Consideration of the fiber geometry distribution results in compatible results to experiments.