Effect of untreated celery fibres on epoxy matrix composites

In this work, 10 wt% of untreated celery fibres with random orientation have been introduced in an epoxy resin, aiming at evaluating the possible improvement of properties with respect to the pure resin. Tensile tests have been carried out and were monitored using the Acoustic Emission (AE) technique. The failure of these materials has been also characterised using microscopy techniques. Tensile tests results showed no influence of the fibres on Young's modulus, while some decrease of tensile strength has been revealed. This has been attributed to the rather uneven interface, due to the absence of chemical treatment on celery fibres.