Experimental Study on Single Fiber Tensile Properties of Sisal Fibers Using a Digital Image Correlation Method as a Strain Measurement

Abstract

The development of natural fibers in engineering applications requires an accurate measurement of their dimensional characteristics and mechanical properties. Fiber cross-sectional area (CSA) obtained from lateral dimensional measurements should consider the specific cross-sectional shape (CSS) of the fibers and their wide lengthwise variations. In this study, the dimensional measurements of water-retted and unretted sisal fibers were conducted by laser scanning microscopy (LSM) and calculation-based methods. Single fiber tensile tests were performed using the digital image correlation (DIC) method. Results show that the diameters of water-retted and unretted fibers measured by LSM were 233 45 m and 236 42 m, respectively. The diameters of water-retted and unretted fibers obtained by calculation were 192 17 m and 178 20 m, respectively. The tensile strengths of waterretted and unretted fibers were 679 118 MPa and 718 106 MPa, respectively. The strain at failure and elastic modulus of water-retted and unretted fibers were 2.0 0.6% and 34 8 GPa, as well as 1.5 0.2% and 48 6 GPa, respectively. Water retting seems to predominantly influence the strain at failure and elastic modulus of sisal fibers, as confirmed by the ANOVA analysis.