Applied Composite Materials 7: 403414, 2000.

2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

403

Mechanical Properties of Natural Fibre Mat

Reinforced Thermoplastic
KRISTIINA OKSMAN
SICOMP AB (Swedish Institute of Composites), Box 271, SE-941 26, Pite, Sweden
Abstract. The use of natural fibres instead of man made fibres, as reinforcements in thermoplastics,
gives interesting alternatives for production of low cost and ecologically friendly composites. In
this work different commercially available semi-finished natural fibre mat reinforced thermoplastics (NMT) composites have been studied. Mechanical properties and microstructure of different
NMT composites were investigated and compared to conventional GMT (glass fibre mat reinforced
thermoplastic) composites and pure polypropylene (PP). The study included also NMT composites
manufacturing processing parameters as processing temperatures and pressure during compression
moulding. The results showed that NMT composites have a high stiffness compared to pure polymer
and the NMT with a high fibre content (50% by weight) showed even better stiffness than the GMT.
The GMT composites had superior strength and impact properties compared to the NMT which
might be due to the relatively low strength of the natural fibres but also to poor adhesion to the PP
matrix. The NMT materials showed a large dependence on direction and are therefore believed to
have more fibres oriented in one direction. The stronger direction (0 ) of the NMT was in some
cases as much as 45% better than the 90 direction.
Key words: flax fibres, natural fibres, thermoplastics, tensile properties, impact properties, anisotropy,
electron microscopy, morphology, compression moulding, processing.

1. Introduction
During the last few years there has been an increasing environmental consciousness, which has increased the interest to use natural fibres instead of man made
fibres in composite materials. Therefore several manufacturers have started to produce semi-finished NMT materials. The advantages using natural fibres instead of
glass fibres are low density, lower price, low abrasive wear and they are virtually
available everywhere. Further the natural fibres are recyclable, biodegradable and
carbon dioxide neutral and can be energy recovered in an environmentally acceptable way [13]. The natural fibres normally involved in these kinds of materials
can be for example flax, and the matrix is usually polypropylene (PP). The commercially available NMT materials are nonwoven fibre mats melt impregnated by
polymers in the form of sheets but also like a nonwoven fibre mat where the flax and
polymer fibres are mixed together in the form of needle punched fibre mats. During
processing the mats or sheets need to be heated at first to the melting temperature
of the polymer matrix, and then compression moulded to products.

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K. OKSMAN

Several investigations have been made to study the potential of natural fibres as
reinforcement in thermoplastics [16]. The results have shown that natural fibres
have potential to be used as reinforcement for plastics but they do not attain the
strength level of glass fibre reinforced plastics [24]. Mieck et al. [2, 3] showed that
when flax fibres were used as reinforcements in thermoplastics (PP) the modulus
was increased to the level of glass fibre reinforced thermoplastics. Heijenrath and
Peijs [4] reported that NMT composites made by film stacking method resulted
in composites with comparable stiffness to conventional GMT composites while
the strength of NMTs was lower. It is well known that the stress transfer efficiency between natural fibres and synthetic polymers is poor due to incompatibility
between the polar and hydrophilic fibre and nonpolar and hydrophobic polymer
[68]. Several investigations have been made to study the adhesion between natural
fibres and synthetic polymers and the results showed that the composite strength
and toughness are significantly improved when coupling agents are used [3, 58].
Possible applications for NMT composites can for example be door panels,
headliners, sun visors, spare-tire covers, seat foundations, instrument panels in
automotive industry.
Non-automotive applications can be for example floor boards, boards for acoustic damping, shipping crates, pallets and furniture.
The objective of this work was to investigate processing parameters, mechanical properties and morphology of different semi-finished NMT composites and
compare those with conventional GMT.

2. Experiments
2.1.

MATERIALS

Materials used in this study are semi-finished NMT from different manufacturers
where two different types of processing techniques have been used:
1. PP melt impregnated fibre mat, available as semi-finished product in the form
of sheet.
2. Nonwoven of PP fibres and flax fibres, available as semi-finished product in the
form of needle punched fibre mat.
The advantages of using melt impregnated NMT compared to needle punched
mats can be lower moisture uptake during storing and in applications due to complete penetration of the polymer, material flow during compression moulding, easier handling and lower transportation cost. The disadvantages are lower fibre content than in needle punched mats. Further, it is believed that the materials are not
isotropic which results in different mechanical properties in different directions.
The needle-punched mats have long fibres which are mostly oriented in one direction (machine direction) while the melt impregnated materials are expected to

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405

Table I. Sample codes of the various NMT composites Material types, fibre fraction
(% by weight), density and approximate price.
Materials
and codes

Fabrication
method

PP
Symalit (S)
Isosport (I)
Danflax (D)
Mhlmeier (M)
Symalit (GMT)

melt impregnated
melt impregnated
needle punched
needle punched
melt impregnated

Fibre content by
weight (%)(a)

Density
(g/cm3 )

Price
(DM/kg)

25
37
50
50
40

0.90
1.00
1.04
1.16
1.13
1.24

5.4
4.7
3.5
6.5
6.0

a Data from the manufacturer.

Figure 1. Processing steps of semi-finished NMT materials.

be more isotropic but the fibres are oriented due to the flow during compression
moulding.
The composition of the studied materials is shown in Table I.
Tested NMT composites were from Symalit AG, Switzerland; Isosport, Austria;
Danflax, Denmark and Mhlmeier GmbH, Germany. According to supplier data,
the NMT materials are reinforced with flax fibres and the fibre content is varying
between 2550 wt%. The GMT had a glass fibre content of 40 wt% and was melt
impregnated and supplied from Symalit GMT, Lenzburg, Switzerland. The density
of compression moulded materials was measured by using a standard test method
for plastics (Accupyc 1330).
2.2.

MANUFACTURING COMPOSITES

The processing of the semi-finished NMT materials is made through four steps
(shown in Figure 1):
1.
2.
3.
4.

Cutting blanks of the sheets (or nonwoven fibre mats).

Heating the blanks above PP melting temperature.
Transport from oven to the press.
Moulding of the heated materials by compression moulding.

Rectangular blanks with the width of 350 mm and the length of 450 mm were
heated in a combined hot air and infrared (IR) oven using a temperature range of
200220 C and afterwards quickly moved to the conventional hydraulic compression moulding press (Fjellman Press AB, Mariestad, Sweden, capacity of 3100 kN).

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K. OKSMAN

The needle punched mats of PP and flax fibres were difficult to heat without
burning the material and were therefore contact heated between thick aluminium
plates to the temperature of 195200 C. The temperature was controlled by a thermocouple placed between the nonwoven mats during heating. The materials were
then compression moulded. This kind of materials can also be heated by blowing
hot air through the mats, which is a much quicker way to heat the material than
contact heating.
The pressure was between 8 and 12 MPa depending on the type of NMT. Melt
impregnated NMTs were compression moulded using lower pressure while the
needle punched mats need a higher pressure to get a uniform material. Moulded
composites had a size of 350 450 mm and thickness between 2.65 mm. The
melt impregnated NMTs can flow during the moulding as GMT but the needle
punched NMT did not flow due to needle punched structure. All materials had a
weight between 700800 g.
2.3.

MECHANICAL TESTING

Tensile testing of the specimens was performed on an Instron test machine (model
8510) using a crosshead speed of 2 mm/min. Samples for the tensile testing were
cut to the width of 30 mm and length of 250 mm. The thickness varied between 2.6
to 5 mm. Izod impact testing was performed according to ASTM D 256 on a Karl
Frank GmbH impact tester. Test samples for impact testing were machined with a
milling cutter. At least 5 specimens of every composition were tested in 0 and 90
directions. The stronger direction is called 0 .
2.4.

MICROSCOPY STUDY

Fractured surfaces of Izod impact specimens were sputter coated with platinum
and examined using a Jeol JSM-5200 scanning electron microscope (SEM) at an
acceleration voltage of 20 kV.
3. Results
3.1.

COMPOSITE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES

The mechanical properties of the composites obtained from tensile and impact tests
are summarised in Table II.
Typical tensile curves for tested materials are shown in Figure 2. The curves
of needle punched materials, Mhlmeier and Danflax follow each other quite well
until the break of Danflax. The melt impregnated NMT shows similar curve shape.
The maximum tensile stress of the NMT composites is shown in Figure 3. It
can be seen that it is increased with increased fibre content. The tensile stress is
shown to be strongly dependent on the direction of the materials and all materials have higher stress in the 0 direction. GMT is less anisotropic compared to

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Table II. Mechanical properties of different commercially available NMT composites,

GMT and pure PP.a
Tensile properties
Composite

PP
S
I
D
M
GMT

Dir.

0
90
0
90
0
90
0
90
0
90

Izod impact properties

Strength
(MPa)

Modulus
(GPa)

Elongation
(%)

Notched
Unnotched
- - - - - - - ( J/m) - - - - - -

28.5 0.6
30.8 0.5
21.3 0.9
34.7 1.8
26.1 2.1
40.2 1.7
35.3 0.8
56.4 2.2
31.1 0.9
77.2 4.4
74.9 7.5

1.5 0.1
4.6 0.6
2.9 0.3
5.2 0.4
3.9 0.9
6.5 0.4
5.0 0.5
6.3 0.9
3.8 0.4
5.4 0.3
5.1 0.4

1.2 0.1
1.4 0.1
1.2 0.1
1.4 0.5
1.4 0.1
2.2 0.4
1.9 0.1
2.2 0.3
1.8 0.1
1.8 0.1

24 1
70 6
38 0
83 6
49 8
403 23
266 14
194 7
150 9

410 75

553 81
129 8
66 5
149 14
100 13
751 122
450 35
386 24
265 23

717 91

a Standard deviations in parentheses.

Figure 2. Typical tensile test curves for the studied materials.

NMT. The melt impregnated NMTs have 25% to 30% better tensile stress in 0
direction, Danflax about 10% and Mhlmeier about 45%. The tested materials did
not reach the level of GMT, which was expected due to higher strength of glass
fibres, 3400 MPa, compared to flax fibres about 7501000 MPa [2]. It should be
mentioned that the NMT with the fibre content of 50 wt% has a tensile strength of
57 MPa, which is twice that of pure PP, 29 MPa.

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K. OKSMAN

Figure 3. Tensile strength of different NMT composites compared to conventional GMT and
pure PP.

Figure 4. The elongation at break of the NMT composites compared to the GMT and pure PP.

The elongation at break in Figure 4 shows that the melt impregnated NMT has
a lower elongation at break than needle punched NMTs and GMT. The maximum
strain is better in 90 direction for all NMT while the GMT have the same strain
values in both directions.
Figure 5 shows that stiffness of the NMT composites with higher or at least the
same fibre content by weight as GMT is comparable with the glass fibre composites, it is even higher for NMT with 50 wt% flax fibre. The modulus for the single
flax fibres is about 100 GPa, which is better than glass fibres [9]. The 0 direction is
stiffer for all NMT material and seems to have especially strong effect for Symalit
and Mhlmeier. Higher modulus in 0 direction indicates that the fibres are more
oriented in this direction.

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409

Figure 5. Stiffness of different NMT composites compared to GMT and pure PP.

Composites impact properties are shown in Figure 6. Izod impact tests showed
that NMT composites have inferior impact properties compared to GMT except
Danflax in 0 direction. In notched samples both NMT and GMT had better impact
strength than pure PP. Generally, the impact strength of NMT composites was improved with increased fibre content and 0 direction except in the case of unnotched
pure PP samples.
Tensile and impact strength indicates that the fibre-matrix adhesion is poor in
the NMT materials. The natural fibres can have wide variations in the quality but
strength and E-modulus are depending on the form of the fibres. Natural fibres are
usually as fibre bundles where the individual fibres are bonded together with lignin
and/or pectin. The fibre bundles have lower mechanical properties than individual
fibres due to the low bonding strength between the individual fibres. We have very
little information about the fibre quality in the composites used in this work. For
example, the natural fibres in these kinds of technical applications may well be rest
products from textile industry or other low quality fibres.

3.2.

COMPOSITE MORPHOLOGY

Scanning electron microscopy of fractured surfaces of different NMT and GMT

composites were made to study the morphology and adhesion between the fibres
and the matrix. Generally, the fracture surfaces of the NMT composites were not
as sharp as the GMT fracture surfaces.
Figure 7(a) shows a typical fracture surface of NMT composites (S) with a fibre
content of 25 wt%. It can be seen that there is a lot of fibre pull-outs and that the
fibres are mostly as fibre bundles. Figure 7(b) shows a more detailed micrograph
of the composite structure. It can be seen that there appears to be poor adhesion

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K. OKSMAN

(a)

(b)
Figure 6. Izod impact properties of (a) notched and (b) unnotched samples.

between the fibre bundles and the PP matrix. The surface of the fibre bundle is clean
and it is also possible to see where the fibres have been located before fracture.
Figure 8(a) shows an NMT composite (I) with 37 wt% fibre content and compared to Figure 7 it has higher fibre content. It is again possible to observe many
fibre pull-outs indicating poor adhesion. Compared to the micrographs in Figure 7 there are more individual fibres in these composites. In (b) a more detailed
micrograph of the interface shows that the fibre surfaces are clean. At larger magnification there were voids visible between the fibre and matrix.

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF NATURAL FIBRE MAT REINFORCED THERMOPLASTIC

411

(a)

(b)
Figure 7. Scanning electron micrographs of the fracture surface of a NMT composite (S) with
25 wt% flax fibre: (a) overview; (b) detail.

For the NMT composite with a fibre content of 50 wt% it was impossible to
study the interface region between the matrix and the fibres. The fibres pull-outs
are so long and so many that it was difficult to see any matrix.
Figure 9(a) shows that the fibre content (by volume) of the GMT is low compared to the NMT in Figure 8 even if the composite has almost the same fibre
content by weight. The difference is explained by the higher glass fibre density,
which is about 2.6 g/cm3 compared to natural fibres 1.41.5 g/cm3 .

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K. OKSMAN

(a)

(b)
Figure 8. Scanning electron micrographs of the fracture surface of NMT composites (I) with
37 wt% flax fibre: (a) overview; (b) detail.

It is also possible to see that the adhesion between glass fibres and PP matrix
is poor, there are a lot of long pull-outs, the interfacial region shows voids and the
fibre surfaces are clean.
4. Conclusions
The main objective of this study was to investigate the mechanical properties and
morphology of four different commercially available semi-finished NMT composites and compare these with conventional GMT and the pure polymer matrix.

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF NATURAL FIBRE MAT REINFORCED THERMOPLASTIC

413

(a)

(b)
Figure 9. SEM micrographs of the fracture surface of a GMT composite with 40 wt% glass
fibre: (a) overview; (b) detail.

Processing parameters for melt impregnated semi finished NMT showed to be

similar to GMT materials, while the needle punched materials need to be contact
heated and need longer heating time and also higher pressure during compression
moulding. The material flow during compression moulding was good for melt
impregnated materials, needle punched materials did not show any flow.
The results of mechanical tests show that the stiffness of NMT composites is
comparable with conventional GMTs when the fibre content is higher or at least
as high as the glass fibre content by weight. But also that the NMT composites

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K. OKSMAN

properties are highly anisotropic, 0 direction (being the stronger direction) shows
a 2040% higher tensile modulus than 90 direction.
The tensile strength of NMT materials is lower than the GMT, but it is increased
with increased fibre content and it is expected to improve further if coupling agents
are used. Even the tensile stress is strongly dependent on the direction. For example
Mhlmeier NMT showed a tensile strength of about 57 MPa in 0 direction and
only 31 MPa in 90 direction.
Generally the NMT composites showed lower Izod impact strength compared
to GMT composites in both notched and unnotched samples except Danflax which
showed impact properties comparable to GMT especially in 0 direction. According to the material manufacturer this is because of the high fibre length.
Impact, tensile properties and the microscopy study indicated that there is poor
fibre/matrix adhesion in all NMT composites.
These results show that NMT composites have a potential to be used instead of
conventional GMT in engineering applications where low weight, easily recyclable
and environmental friendly materials are desirable. The NMT materials showed in
most cases somewhat lower prices compared to GMT but the material suppliers
count on even lower prices in the future.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Symalit AG, Switzerland, Molybon Agentur AB,
Sweden, Danflax AS, Denmark and Lear Corporation, Sweden, Interior Systems
AB, Tanum, for supplied materials.
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