Mechanical properties and potential commercial applications of agricultural composites
- Meetech Corp., Lawrence, KS (United States)
- Univ. of Kansas, Lawrence, KS (United States); and others
This paper reveals information on the mechanical properties of the agricultural composites and their commercial potential as a substitute for plastics and woods leading to a lower cost for these products. Chopped and particulate agricultural co-products (hereafter referred to agro-fibers) such as wheat, brome hay, switchgrass, and corn were mixed at a ratio of 66:34 fiber/epoxy by volume to manufacture agricultural composites (hereafter referred to agrocomposites) using the hand lay-up molding technique. The manufactured composite samples were tested for their mechanical properties such as tensile stress, compressive stress, moisture absorption, and thermal expansion. According to results, chopped switchgrass agro-composite samples showed the highest tensile strength, yet less than that of soft woods and slightly higher than that of plastics (high density polyethylene known as HDPE). As a result, a second set of agro-composite samples using only chopped switchgrass was manufactured at 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50% agro-fiber content to obtain the optimal fiber/epoxy ratio for which agro-composite samples show the maximum tensile stress. The same procedure was followed for comprehensive strength, thermal expansion, and moisture absorption measurements. According to the obtained results, at 50:50, agro-composite samples showed the highest tensile stress at 2,925 psi compared to that of plastic at 2,000 psi and of soft wood at 6,600 psi. At 10:90 agro-fiber/epoxy, compressive strength of the agro-composite samples were 60% higher than that of plastic and 80% higher than that of soft woods. Thermal expansion and moisture absorption of the manufactured agro-composite samples showed better performances than both woods and plastics. Optimized agro-composite samples, due to their cost competitiveness and low weight, could replace woods and plastics in some applications. A small fraction of plastic and wood market wood lead to new source of revenues for farmers.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 115346
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/CP-200-8098; CONF-9508104-; ON: DE95009230; TRN: 95:006736-0128
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2. meeting on biomass of the Americas, Portland, OR (United States), 21-24 Aug 1995; Other Information: PBD: [1995]; Related Information: Is Part Of Second biomass conference of the Americas: Energy, environment, agriculture, and industry. Proceedings; PB: 1741 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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