ABSTRACT

The simple incorporation of vegetable fibres of coconut and sisal in brittle matrices modifies their rupture behaviour. This enables the development of reserve of resistance of the composites after cracking and increases their usefulness. This paper presents comparative results of prismatic specimens of composites subjected to flexural and impact test by varying matrix type, fibre length, fibre/matrix relative volume and mixture processing. The results indicate that those elements interact in different manner in the behaviour of the composites and that their influences can be assessed adequately by flexural tests as an alternative form to the direct tensile test.