Compression strength of natural fibre composite plates and sections of flax, jute and hemp

Natural fibres such as flax, jute and hemp have been utilised for thousands of years, however have only recently been considered for fibre-resin composites. A major motivation for such an application is their superior sustainability attributes compared with traditional building materials. Population rise continues to place increasing demands for new infrastructure. Meanwhile, public concerns about the environment, climate change, energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, place increasing demands for the use of sustainable materials in infrastructure. While there is a wealth of knowledge in the materials aspects of natural fibre composites, relatively few studies have investigated their potential for structural applications. This paper presents an experimental and analytical study of natural fibre composite plates and channel sections consisting of flax, jute and hemp fibres and subjected to pure compression. The intrinsic mechanical properties are shown to be relatively modest. However, the buckling and post-buckling responses are shown to be stable, the ultimate condition is reached in a stable and predictable manner, and failure ensues in a gradual and ductile process. These characteristics show promise for the use of natural fibre composite sections in light structural applications such as in the residential and light commercial markets. Additionally, the analytical effective width mechanics model shows promise for use as a design technique for estimating their compression strength.