Mechanical characterization of DuraPulp by means of micromechanical modelling

Abstract: Södra DuraPulp is a relatively new eco-composite, made from natural wood fibers and polylactic acid (PLA), which comes from corn starch. Until now, there are only few applications for DuraPulp, mainly in the area of design. To find new fields of application, more knowledge about its mechanical material properties are of great interest.This study deals with characterizing the mechanical properties of DuraPulp in an analytical way by means of micromechanical modelling and evaluation with help of Matlab. The mechanical properties for PLA were taken from scientific literature. Not all properties of the wood fibers could be found in literature (particularly Poisson’s ratios were unavailable). Therefore, they partly had to be assumed within reasonable boundaries. These assumptions are later validated regarding their influence on the final product.Figures and tables were used to present and compare the in- and out-of-plane E-Moduli, shear moduli and Poisson’s ratios of DuraPulp. The calculated in-plane E-Moduli were then compared to those obtained from an earlier study, where DuraPulp was tested in tension. The results showed that experimental and analytical values are very similar to each other.