Sheet forming of flax reinforced polypropylene composites using vacuum assisted oven consolidation (VAOC)
Fibre reinforced plastics are widely used in different industry sectors since the past half century. Considerable research has been carried out on natural fibres as reinforcements because of their light weight, good mechanical properties, biodegradability, sustainability and higher stiffness per unit mass compared to glass fibres. This paper develops a knowledge base for the manufacture of vacuum assisted fibre reinforced thermoplastic composites inside a simple oven from sheets of the fibre and the thermoplastic. The compaction behaviour of the reinforcements used was investigated and used to target a range of achievable fibre volume fractions to manufacture the composites.(...)
