Failure strain as the key design criterion for fracture of natural fibre composites

Natural fibre composites are often considered to be problematic because of the high variability in their mechanical properties. This short communication considers the statistical variation in the two key fracture properties (strain and strength) for data obtained from tests on 785 jute technical fibres. The fibre strength does have high variability, which arises from the difficulty of determining an accurate fibre cross-sectional area (CSA). Failure strain is more consistent as this property is independent of the fibre cross-section. The authors therefore recommend that the use of failure strain as the key design criterion for natural fibre composites would expedite the adoption of these materials in the market. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.