Novel Cattail Fiber Composites - Converting Waste Biomass into Reinforcement for Composites

Abstract Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM), used to manufacture medium to large sized composites for transportation industries, require non-woven mats. While non-woven glass mats used in these applications are optimized for resin impregnation and properties, such optimized mats for natural fibers are not available. In the current research, cattail fibers were extracted from plants (18–30% yield) using alkali retting and nonwoven cattail fiber mat was manufactured. The extracted fibers exhibited a normal distribution in diameter (davg. = 32.1 µm) and the modulus and strength decreased with increase in diameter with average values of 19.1 GPa and 172.3 MPa, respectively. The cattail fiber composites were manufactured using non-woven mats, Stypol polyester resin, and VARTM (101 kPa) and compression molding pressures (260 and 560 kPa) and tested. Out-of-plane permeability changed with Vf of mats, which was influenced by areal density, thickness, and fiber packing in the mat. The cattail fibers reinforced the stypol resin significantly. The modulus and the strength increased with consolidation pressures due to increase in fiber volume fraction (Vf), with maximum values of 7.4 GPa and 48 MPa, demonstrating the utility of Cattail fibers from waste biomass as reinforcements.