Mechanical Characterization and Structural Assessment of Biocomposites for Construction

The materials currently employed by the construction industry are made from nonrenewable resources, emit significant greenhouse gases during fabrication, and are sent to landfills, incinerated, or recycled, usually by energy-intensive methods, to materials of lesser quality at the end of their useful service life. These construction practices and materials are unsustainable. There is a major need to (1) limit the use of non-renewable materials by using more renewable materials, (2) reduce pollution and energy costs from production of construction materials, and (3) use construction materials that have greater resource potential after demolition. Biocomposites, materials made from renewable resources that biodegrade in an anaerobic environment, have the potential to meet these needs.

The objective of this dissertation is to assess whether or not two particular biocomposite materials, made from hemp fabric and cellulose acetate or polyhydroxybutyrate matrices, are capable of being used for structural and/or construction
purposes within in the construction and building industry. The objective of this dissertation was addressed by conducting research to meet the following three goals: (1) measure the basic mechanical properties of hemp/cellulose acetate and hemp/PHB biocomposites and evaluate if they suitable for use in construction applications, (2) to determine how quickly moisture diffuses into the biocomposite materials and how the moisture affects the mechanical behavior, and (3) to determine how well simple models can predict behavior of structural scale laminates in tension and flexure using biocomposite ply behavior.

Compression molding was used to manufacturing the biocomposites from hemp fabric and the themoplastic matrices: cellulose acetate and polyhydroxybutyrate. Four methods for determining the fiber volume fraction were evaluated, and the dissolution method, using different solvents for each matrix type, was used to determine the fiber volume fraction for each composite plate manufactured. Both types of biocomposite were tested in tension, compression, shear, and flexure and the measured properties were compared to wood and engineered wood products to assess whether the biocomposite properties are suitable for use in the construction industry. The biocomposites were conditioned in a humid environment to determine the rate of moisture diffusion into the materials. Then saturated specimens and specimens that were saturated and then dried were tested in tension to evaluate how moisture absorption affects the mechanical behavior of the biocomposites. Finally, simple models of laminate behavior based on laminate plate theory were evaluated to determine if ply level behavior could be used to predict structural scale laminate behavior.

While the biocomposite strengths in flexure, compression, and shear were comparable to the strengths of wood and wood-based products parallel to grain, the biocomposite strengths exceeded the strengths perpendicular to the wood grain, as would be expected with fabric reinforcement. The biocomposite moduli of elasticity were between 35% and 75% of the wood moduli parallel to grain. While structural shape of the biocomposites could be manipulated to achieve a comparable structural stiffness to replace wood and short fiber FRPs, the biocomposites have comparable stiffness to the engineered wood-products. Thus, in terms of mechanical properties, the biocomposites can be used in place of engineered-wood products. Yet, the higher densities of the biocomposites as compared to wood and engineered-wood products may limit their implementation in construction.

The diffusion coefficients for both biocomposites were comparable to wood and higher than the coefficients for synthetic composites as expected due to the hydrophilicity of the natural fibers. Significantly greater moisture absorption of the hemp/cellulose acetate composite as compared to the hemp/PHB composite was attributed to the cellulose
acetate itself being hydrophilic whereas PHB is hydrophobic. The rate of diffusion for both materials was found to increase with increasing temperature. Moisture absorption negatively affected the biocomposites as shown through lower initial stiffnesses and higher strains at failure of saturated specimens. The hemp/cellulose acetate composites were much more affected by moisture absorption than the hemp/PHB composites likely because the moisture plasticized the cellulose acetate and also weakened the interfacial fiber-matrix bond. Moisture was assumed to cause permanent damage because the stress strain
behavior did not return to the unconditioned behavior upon drying of the saturated specimens. The degradation of mechanical properties upon introduction to humid environments limits the potential applications of these biocomposites. For these biocomposites to be used widely within the construction industry, they must therefore be protected from moisture for example through sealants and/or fiber treatments.

Classical laminate plate theory was shown to be effective in predicting the initial linear behavior of all of the laminates in tension and flexure, but did not capture stiffness degradation or the full nonlinear stress-strain response of the biocomposites because the model was for linear elastic materials. Use of this model would be appropriate for design of deflection-limited applications within certain stress ranges. The modified nonlinear laminate plate theory predicted the initial stress-strain response well, but at higher strains overestimated the strength and stiffness. The overestimation was attributed to the constitutive model assuming uncoupled stress-strain behavior for each strain component and, additionally in flexure, to the use of tensile behavior as the constitutive behavior in compression. While the simple models provided an adequate prediction of laminate behavior at low strains, to predict behavior at higher strains, it is recommended instead to evaluate the use of finite element analysis to predict response using experimental stress strain as models for orthotropic materials and non-linear behavior are well-established.