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Alkali treatment of hemp fibres for the production of aligned hemp fibre mats for composite reinforcement

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Abstract

The main objective of this study was to produce aligned hemp fibre mats from high strength hemp fibres using dynamic sheet forming (DSF). Alkali treatment of hemp fibre was carried out at ambient and high temperature to separate fibres. Single fibre tensile testing was used to assess the tensile properties of the fibres. It was found that the highest tensile properties were exhibited by high temperature treated fibre, whereas the tensile properties exhibited by ambient temperature treated fibre were lower than for untreated fibre. It was also found that fibre granulated after high temperature treatment, was better separated than that granulated before high temperature treatment. This well-separated fibre could successfully be formed into mats using DSF. The orientation of the formed mat was analysed using ImageJ (NIH, USA) software by which the potential of DSF to produce aligned hemp fibre mat was supported. The tensile properties of composite reinforced by these aligned hemp fibre mats were assessed.

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Acknowledgments

This research received no specific grant from any agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. However, the authors would like to thank to the University of Waikato’s Composites research group for their support.

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  1. School of Engineering, The University of Waikato, Gate 8, Hillcrest Road, Hamilton, 3240, New Zealand

    Tom Sunny, Kim L. Pickering & Shen Hin Lim

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  1. Tom Sunny
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  2. Kim L. Pickering
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  3. Shen Hin Lim
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Correspondence to Tom Sunny.

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Sunny, T., Pickering, K.L. & Lim, S.H. Alkali treatment of hemp fibres for the production of aligned hemp fibre mats for composite reinforcement. Cellulose 27, 2569–2582 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-019-02939-3

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