Characterization of epoxy-resin reinforced with TiO2 modified flax fibers composites

Renewable materials have received a full attention in many applications because they are directly derived from earth and their degradability. Natural fiber reinforced composites are innovative materials, renewable and also light in weight which make them a good candidate in bio-based polymer composites research and development field. It also increases the value and the development of local and regional agriculture and textile industries. Among them, flax fibers have the best potential to be an environmentally friendly alternative of synthetics fibers in polymer composites. But natural fibers are hydrophilic because of the hydroxyl groups in their structure. It restricts their application in the polymeric matrices because of poor interfacial adhesion and difficulties in mixing due to poor wetting of the fiber with the matrix. To resolve these problems, this study tried firstly to functionalize the flax fibers, which improve adhesion of subsequent amphiphilic TiO2 thin films created by Sol-Gel technique. The thin film obtained from Sol-Gel technique created on the flax fibers was TiO2 in anatase form with the thickness of 100nm. DSC has been used to characterize the thermal properties of the fibers. Molded composite mechanical properties were investigated by tensile test and short beam shear test. Electron microscopy (SEM) has been used to characterize TiO2 thin film and microstructural fractography analysis.