Natural rubber composites fibre loading

Abdelmouleh M, Boufi S, Belgacem MN, Dufresne A (2007) Short natural-fibre reinforced polyethylene and natural rubber composites effect of silane coupling agents and fibres loading. Compos Sci Technol 67 1627-1639... 

H. Ismail, M. Edyhan, and B. Wirjosentono, Bamboo fibre filled natural rubber composites the effects of filler loading and bonding agent. Polym. Test. 21(2), 139-144 (2002). 

Natural fibres possess sufficient strength and stiffiiess but are difficult to use in load bearing applications by themselves because of their fibrous structure. Most plastics themselves are not suitable for load bearing applications due to their lack of sufficient strength, stiffness and dimensional stability [51]. In natural fibre reinforced composites, the fibres serve as reinforcement by giving strength and stiffness to the structure while the plastic matrix serve as the adhesive to hold the fibres in place so that suitable structural components can be made. The matrix for the natural fibres includes thermosets, thermoplastics and mbber. Different plant fibres and wood fibres are fotmd to be interesting reinforcements for rubber, thermoplastics and thermosets [52-58]. 

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