Production of cellulosic fiber reinforced composite materials and determination of their mechanical properties

In recent years, the concept of sustainability has emerged in all areas of life. Many industrial products are replaced with recyclable, environmentally friendly, sustainable substitutes. In this context, a rapid transformation is witnessed in the aviation, automotive, construction, and packaging sectors. This transformation also affects the composite industry, which has developed and becomes widespread as an engineering material in the last thirty years. Bio-composites, in which natural fibers are used as reinforcement materials and natural polymers are used as resins, are intensively researched by academic circles. In this study, plates with 4 different properties were produced and their mechanical properties were compared. Two groups of plates were obtained from eucalyptus or pine fibers with the molded pulp production method, which has become widespread in the packaging industry. In addition, two groups of composite plates were produced, in which the cationic starch was extruded with the same fibers and given the final form by pressing. When the mechanical properties are compared, it has been observed that the tensile, compression, and bending strengths of the composite plates are much higher than the pure fiber plates. It was determined that pure fiber and composite plates produced with pine fiber showed higher strength properties than their counterparts produced from eucalyptus. It has been observed that the impact resistance of pure fiber plates is much better than composite plates.