Potentials of natural fibre-reinforced composites for dynamic applications

Fibre-reinforced composites with anisotropic properties typically have an application specific layup. Therein is a conflict of objectives: the Young’s modulus is high in fibre direction whereas damping is more pronounced perpendicular to the fibres. Recently, organic fibres have emerged as an ecological reinforcement alternative. Especially flax fibres outperform significantly in damping. The stiffness and damping capacity of the entire composed lamina are determined using layer-based models combining classical laminate theory, energy based damping modelling and state-of-the-art optimisation algorithms. Experiments and an example application demonstrated that flax fibre-reinforced composites offer an excellent design space, enhancing the vibro-acoustic performance of dynamically loaded components.