The manufacture and mechanical properties of aligned long harakeke fibre reinforced epoxy composites

Aligned long harakeke fibre reinforced epoxy composites were prepared using hand lay-up followed by compression moulding. Densities of harakeke fibre and epoxy resin were determined for the purpose of composite design. The evenness of composites fabricated by two different size moulds was compared. It was found that more even composites were produced when using a small mould than a big mould. In this work, the dependence of tensile and flexural properties of harakeke/epoxy composites on fibre content was also investigated. The results showed that the addition of fibre enhanced tensile properties of epoxy. The tensile strength and Young’s modulus increased with the volume fraction of harakeke fibre. The flexural strength and flexural modulus increased as the fibre volume fraction increased up to 0.4. Further addition of fibre did not result in an improvement of composite flexural properties.