The most cited articles published since 2009, extracted from Scopus
Volume 42, Issue 4, June 2011, Pages 856-873
Harry Ku | Hao Wang | N. Pattarachaiyakoop | Mohan Trada
This paper is a review on the tensile properties of natural fiber reinforced polymer composites. Natural fibers have recently become attractive to researchers, engineers and scientists as an alternative reinforcement for fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites. Due to their low cost, fairly good mechanical properties, high specific strength, non-abrasive, eco-friendly and bio-degradability characteristics, they are exploited as a replacement for the conventional fiber, such as glass, aramid and carbon. The tensile properties of natural fiber reinforce polymers (both thermoplastics and thermosets) are mainly influenced by the interfacial adhesion between the matrix and the fibers. Several chemical modifications are employed to improve the interfacial matrix-fiber bonding resulting in the enhancement of tensile properties of the composites. In general, the tensile strengths of the natural fiber reinforced polymer composites increase with fiber content, up to a maximum or optimum value, the value will then drop. However, the Young's modulus of the natural fiber reinforced polymer composites increase with increasing fiber loading. Khoathane et al.  found that the tensile strength and Young's modulus of composites reinforced with bleached hemp fibers increased incredibly with increasing fiber loading. Mathematical modelling was also mentioned. It was discovered that the rule of mixture (ROM) predicted and experimental tensile strength of different natural fibers reinforced HDPE composites were very close to each other. Halpin-Tsai equation was found to be the most effective equation in predicting the Young's modulus of composites containing different types of natural fibers. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Volume 40, Issue 7, October 2009, Pages 655-663
Hoiyan Cheung | Meipo Ho | Kintak Lau | Francisco X H Cardona | David Hui
Recently, the mankind has realized that unless environment is protected, he himself will be threatened by the over consumption of natural resource as well as substantial reduction of fresh air produced in the world. Conservation of forests and optimal utilization of agricultural and other renewable resources like solar and wind energies, and recently, tidal energy have become important topics worldwide. In such concern, the use of renewable resources such as plant and animal based fibre-reinforce polymeric composites, has been becoming an important design criterion for designing and manufacturing components for all industrial products. Research on biodegradable polymeric composites, can contribute for green and safe environment to some extent. In the biomedical and bioengineered field, the use of natural fibre mixed with biodegradable and bioresorbable polymers can produce joints and bone fixtures to alleviate pain for patients. In this paper, a comprehensive review on different kinds of natural fibre composites will be given. Their potential in future development of different kinds of engineering and domestic products will also be discussed in detail. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Volume 41, Issue 3, April 2010, Pages 236-245
Nikhil M. Gupta | Raymond Ye | Maurizio Porfiri
The present study is focused on the synthesis and characterization of vinyl ester/glass microballoon syntactic foams. Tensile and compressive properties of vinyl ester matrix syntactic foams are characterized. Results show that the compressive strength and moduli of several syntactic foam compositions are comparable to those of the neat matrix resin. Due to the lower density of syntactic foams, the specific compressive properties of all compositions are higher than those of the neat resin. Similar trends are observed in the tensile properties. Mechanical properties of vinyl ester matrix syntactic foams are compared to well-documented mechanical properties of epoxy matrix systems. The comparison shows that low cost vinyl ester resins, which are extensively used in marine applications, can result in syntactic foams with comparable performance to epoxy matrix systems. In addition, tensile modulus is found to be 15-30% higher than the compressive modulus for all syntactic foam compositions. This difference is related to the possibility of particle fracture in the stress range where modulus is calculated in the compressive stress-strain curves. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Volume 42, Issue 2, March 2011, Pages 123-133
Erasmo Carrera | S. Brischetto | Maria Cinefra | M. Soave
The present work evaluates the effect of thickness stretching in plate/shell structures made by materials which are functionally graded (FGM) in the thickness directions. That is done by removing or retaining the transverse normal strain in the kinematics assumptions of various refined plate/shell theories. Variable plate/shell models are implemented according to Carrera's Unified Formulation. Plate/shell theories with constant transverse displacement are compared with the corresponding linear to fourth order of expansion in the thickness direction ones. Single-layered and multilayered FGM structures have been analyzed. A large numerical investigation, encompassing various plate/shell geometries as well as various grading rates for FGMs, has been conducted. It is mainly concluded that a refinements of classical theories that include additional in-plane variables could results meaningless unless transverse normal strain effects are taken into account. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Volume 40, Issue 7, October 2009, Pages 601-606
Ahmad A. Alawar | Ahmed M M Hamed | Khalifa Al-Kaabi
Recently, great interest was paid to new technologies dealing with environmental aspect. Preservation of natural resources such as natural fibers forced the composite industry to search and examine "eco-friendly" components. Studies to find alternative reinforcements and resin systems that are environmentally friendly while providing the same performance as their synthetic counterparts are in continuous progress. The aim of this study is to investigate effect of different treatment process on the data palm fiber (DPF). Raw DPF underwent different surface modification methods such as alkali treatment with concentrations 0.5%, 1%, 1.5%, 2.5% and 5%, and acid treatment with 0.3, 0.9 and 1.6 N. All treatments were performed at 100 °C for 1 h. The surface morphology, thermal gravimetry analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), mechanical properties and chemical analysis, of treated DPF were investigated. Specimen treated with 1% NaOH showed optimum mechanical properties. Hydrochloric acid treatment resulted in deterioration in mechanical properties. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Volume 42, Issue 5, July 2011, Pages 1276-1284
António Joaquim Mendes Ferreira | Erasmo Carrera | Maria Cinefra | Carla Maria Da Cunha Roque | Olivier Polit
In this paper, the static and free vibration analysis of laminated shells is performed by radial basis functions collocation, according to a sinusoidal shear deformation theory (SSDT). The SSDT theory accounts for through-the-thickness deformation, by considering a sinusoidal evolution of all displacements with the thickness coordinate. The equations of motion and the boundary conditions are obtained by the Carrera's Unified Formulation, and further interpolated by collocation with radial basis functions. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Volume 43, Issue 2, March 2012, Pages 711-725
Ana M A Neves | António Joaquim Mendes Ferreira | Erasmo Carrera | Carla Maria Da Cunha Roque | Maria Cinefra | Renato Natal Natal Jorge | Cristóvão Manuel Mota Soares
In this paper we present a new application for Carrera's unified Formulation (CUF) to analyse functionally graded plates. In this paper the authors present explicit governing equations of a sinusoidal shear deformation theory for functionally graded plates. It addresses the bending and free vibration analysis and accounts for through-the-thickness deformations. The equations of motion are interpolated by collocation with radial basis functions. Numerical examples demonstrate the efficiency of the present approach. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Volume 40, Issue 7, October 2009, Pages 650-654
Sha Cheng | Kintak Lau | Tao Liu | Yongqing Zhao | Pouman Lam | Yansheng Yin
Chicken feather fiber (CFF)/reinforced poly(lactic acid) (PLA) composites were processed using a twin-screw extruder and an injection molder. The tensile moduli of CFF/PLA composites with different CFF content (2, 5, 8 and 10 wt%) were found to be higher than that of pure PLA, and a maximum value of 4.2 GPa (16 % ↑) was attained with 5 wt% of CFF without causing any substantial weight increment. The morphology, evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), indicated that an uniform dispersion of CFF in the PLA matrix existed. The mechanical and thermal properties of pure PLA and CFF/PLA composites were compared using dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), thermomechanical analysis (TMA) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). DMA results revealed that the storage modulus of the composites increased with respect to the pure polymer, whereas the mechanical loss factor (tan δ) decreased. The results of TGA experiments indicated that the addition of CFF enhanced the thermal stability of the composites as compared to pure PLA. The outcome obtained from this study is believed to assist the development of environmentally-friendly composites from biodegradable polymers, especially for converting agricultural waste - chicken feather into useful products. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Volume 40, Issue 5, July 2009, Pages 349-378
Marek Jerzy Pindera | Hamed Khatam | Anthony S. Drago | Yogesh Bansal
Outside of the classical microstructural detail-free estimates of effective moduli, micromechanical analyses of macroscopically uniform heterogeneous media may be grouped into two categories based on different geometric representations of material microstructure. Analysis of periodic materials is based on the repeating unit cell (RUC) concept and the associated periodic boundary conditions. This contrasts with analysis of statistically homogeneous materials based on the representative volume element (RVE) concept and the associated homogeneous boundary conditions. In this paper, using the above classification framework we provide a critical review of the various micromechanical approaches that had evolved along different paths, and outline recent emerging trends. We begin with the basic framework for the solution of micromechanics problems independent of microstructural representation, and then clarify the often confused RVE and RUC concepts. Next, we describe classical models, including the available RVE-based models, and critically examine their limitations. This is followed by discussion of models based on the concept of microstructural periodicity. In the final part, two recent unit cell-based models, which continue to evolve, are outlined. First, a homogenization technique called finite-volume direct averaging micromechanics theory is presented as a viable and easily implemented alternative to the mainstream finite-element based asymptotic homogenization of unit cells. The recent incorporation of parametric mapping into this approach has made it competitive with the finite-element method. Then, the latest work based on locally-exact solutions of unit cell problems is described. In this approach, the interior unit cell problem is solved exactly using the elasticity approach. The exterior problem is tackled with a new variational principle that successfully overcomes the non-separable nature of the overall unit cell problem. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Volume 40, Issue 2, March 2009, Pages 166-173
Maurizio Porfiri | Nikhil M. Gupta
Hollow particle filled composites, called syntactic foams, are widely used in applications requiring high damage tolerance and low density. The understanding of the mechanics of these materials is largely based on experimental studies. Predictive models that are capable of estimating the elastic properties of these materials over wide variation of particle wall thickness, size, and volume fraction are not yet fully developed. The present study is focused on developing a modeling scheme to estimate the elastic constants for such materials. The elastic properties of an infinitely dilute dispersion of microballoons in a matrix material are first computed by solving a dilatation and a shear problem. A differential scheme is then used to extrapolate the elastic properties of composites with high volume fractions of microballoons. The results show that the model is successful in predicting the Young's modulus for syntactic foams containing microballoons of a wide range of wall thickness and volume fraction. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Volume 42, Issue 4, June 2011, Pages 717-723
Valentina Lopresto | Claudio Leone | Isabella De Iorio
New perspectives have arisen on basalt fibre applications due to the potential low cost of this material together with its good mechanical performance, in particular at high temperature. The idea to fill these fibres into a polymer matrix is relatively recent and could offer very interesting perspectives that have not yet been sufficiently investigated. In this work, with the principal aim of evaluating the possibility to replace glass fibres in most of their applications, mechanical tests were carried out on comparable E-glass and basalt fibre reinforced plastic laminates. The latter were cut by square plates fabricated through vacuum bag technology. The results obtained on the two laminates were compared showing a high performance of the basalt material in terms of young modulus, compressive and bending strength, impact force and energy. These good properties suggest possible applications of basalt fibres in fields where glass composites are nowadays largely applied. The short-beam strength tests confirmed what above said by denoting an interfacial adhesion similar to that between E-glass and epoxy matrix. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Volume 40, Issue 7, October 2009, Pages 623-627
Kasama Jarukumjorn | Nitinat Suppakarn
Natural fiber reinforced polymer composites became more attractive due to their light weight, high specific strength, and environmental concern. However, some limitations such as low modulus, poor moisture resistance were reported. This study aimed to investigate the effect of glass fiber hybridization on the physical properties of sisal-polypropylene composites. Polypropylene grafted with maleic anhydride (PP-g-MA) was used as a compatibilizer to enhance the compatibility between the fibers and polypropylene. Incorporating glass fiber into the sisal-polypropylene composites enhanced tensile, flexural, and impact strength without having significant effect on tensile and flexural moduli. In addition, adding glass fiber improved thermal properties and water resistance of the composites. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Volume 43, Issue 3, April 2012, Pages 1489-1499
J. L. Mantari | A. Sinan Oktem | Carlos Guedes Guedes Soares
A new shear deformation theory for sandwich and composite plates is developed. The proposed displacement field, which is "m" parameter dependent, is assessed by performing several computations of the plate governing equations. Therefore, the present theory, which gives accurate results, is relatively close to 3D elasticity bending solutions. The theory accounts for adequate distribution of the transverse shear strains through the plate thickness and tangential stress-free boundary conditions on the plate boundary surface, thus a shear correction factor is not required. Plate governing equations and boundary conditions are derived by employing the principle of virtual work. The Navier-type exact solutions for static bending analysis are presented for sinusoidally and uniformly distributed loads. The accuracy of the present theory is ascertained by comparing it with various available results in the literature. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Volume 42, Issue 6, September 2011, Pages 1648-1656
Tranhuu Nam | Shinji Ogihara | NguyenHuy Tung | Satoshi Kobayashi
The poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) biodegradable composites reinforced with coir fibers were developed. The effect of alkali treatment on the surface morphology and mechanical properties of coir fibers, interfacial shear strength (IFSS) and mechanical properties of coir fiber/PBS composites was studied. The effect of fiber mass content varying from 10% to 30% on the mechanical properties of coir fiber/PBS composites was also investigated. The coir fibers which are soaked in 5% sodium hydroxide solution at room temperature (RT) for 72 h showed the highest IFSS with 55.6% higher than untreated coir fibers. The mechanical properties of alkali-treated coir fiber/PBS composites are significantly higher than those of untreated fibers. The best mechanical properties of alkali-treated coir fiber/PBS composite were achieved at fiber mass content of 25% in this study, which showed an increase of tensile strength by 54.5%, tensile modulus by 141.9%, flexural strength by 45.7% and flexural modulus by 97.4% compared to those of pure PBS resin. The fiber surface morphologies and fractured surface of the composites exhibited an improvement of interfacial fiber-matrix adhesion in the composites reinforced with alkali-treated coir fibers. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Volume 43, Issue 7, October 2012, Pages 2883-2892
Mazed M. Kabir | Hao Wang | Kintak Lau | Francisco X H Cardona
This paper provides a comprehensive overview on different surface treatments applied to natural fibres for advanced composites applications. In practice, the major drawbacks of using natural fibres are their high degree of moisture absorption and poor dimensional stability. The primary objective of surface treatments on natural fibres is to maximize the bonding strength so as the stress transferability in the composites. The overall mechanical properties of natural fibre reinforced polymer composites are highly dependent on the morphology, aspect ratio, hydrophilic tendency and dimensional stability of the fibres used. The effects of different chemical treatments on cellulosic fibres that are used as reinforcements for thermoset and thermoplastics are studied. The chemical sources for the treatments include alkali, silane, acetylation, benzoylation, acrylation and acrylonitrile grafting, maleated coupling agents, permanganate, peroxide, isocyanate, stearic acid, sodium chlorite, triazine, fatty acid derivate (oleoyl chloride) and fungal. The significance of chemically-treated natural fibres is seen through the improvement of mechanical strength and dimensional stability of resultant composites as compared with a pristine sample. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Volume 42, Issue 3, April 2011, Pages 570-578
Ali Nazari | Shadi Riahi
In this work, compressive, flexural and split tensile strengths together with coefficient of water absorption of high strength self compacting concrete containing different amount of SiO2 nanoparticles have been investigated. Strength and water permeability of the specimens have been improved by adding SiO2 nanoparticles in the cement paste up to 4.0 wt.%. SiO2 nanoparticle could accelerate C-S-H gel formation as a result of increased crystalline Ca(OH)2 amount especially at the early age of hydration and increase the strength of the specimens. In addition, SiO2 nanoparticles are able to act as nanofillers and recover the pore structure of the specimens by decreasing harmful pores. Several empirical relations have been presented to predict flexural and split tensile strength of the specimens by means of compressive strength at a certain age of curing. Accelerated peak appearance in conduction calorimetry tests, more weight loss in thermogravimetric analysis and more rapid appearance of peaks related to hydrated products in X-ray diffraction results, all also indicate that SiO 2 nanoparticles up to 4 wt.% could improve the mechanical and physical properties of the specimens. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.
Volume 40, Issue 7, October 2009, Pages 628-632
Poonsub Threepopnatkul | N. Kaerkitcha | Narit Athipongarporn
This research is to study the properties of pineapple leaf fiber reinforced polycarbonate composites (PC/PALF). Surface of pineapple leaf fiber (PALF) was pre-treated with sodium hydroxide (PALF/NaOH) and modified with two different functionalities such as γ-aminopropyl trimethoxy silane (PALF/Z-6011) and γ-methacryloxy propyl trimethoxy silane (PALF/Z-6030). The effects of PALF content and chemical treatment were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and mechanical testing. The modified pineapple leaf fibers composite also produces enhanced mechanical properties. Young's modulus is the highest in the case of the PALF/NaOH composites. The PALF/Z-6011 composites showed the highest tensile strength and impact strength. In thermal property, the results from thermogravimetric analysis showed that thermal stability of the composites is lower than that of neat polycarbonate resin and thermal stability decreased with increasing pineapple leaf fiber content. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Volume 40, Issue 2, March 2009, Pages 149-157
Raul D.S.G. Campilho | Marcelo F. S. F. de Moura | A. M G Pinto | José J L Morais | Joaquim J M S Domingues
An experimental and numerical study concerning the tensile behaviour of adhesively-bonded carbon-epoxy scarf repairs is presented, using scarf angles ranging from 2° to 45°. A mixed-mode cohesive damage model adequate for ductile adhesives was used to simulate the adhesive layer. The cohesive laws of the adhesive layer, composite interlaminar and composite intralaminar (in the transverse and fibre directions) in pure modes I and II, necessary to simulate numerically the experimental failure paths, were previously characterized using an inverse method. Validation of this methodology was accomplished in terms of repair initial stiffness, maximum load and the corresponding displacement, as well as the failure mode. A good agreement between the numerical predictions and the experiments showed that the proposed methodology can be successfully applied to joints or repairs bonded with ductile adhesives. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Volume 40, Issue 8, December 2009, Pages 784-797
Marta Baena | Lluís Torres | Albert Turon | Cristina Barris
This paper presents the results of an experimental programme concerning 88 concrete pull-out specimens prepared according to ACI 440.3R-04 and CSA S806-02 standards. Rebars (reinforcing bars) made of carbon-fibre and glass-fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP and GFRP), as well as steel rebars, with a constant embedment length of five times the rebar diameter were used. The influence of the rebar surface, rebar diameter and concrete strength on the bond-slip curves obtained is analysed. In addition, analytical models suggested in the literature are used to describe the ascending branch of the bond-slip curves. To calibrate the analytical models, new equations that account for the dependence on rebar diameter are presented. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Volume 42, Issue 2, March 2011, Pages 326-329
Xiangxuan Liu | Zeyang Zhang | Youpeng Wu
An absorbing medium is prepared using nanosize carbon black (CB) blended with nanosize silicon carbide (SiC). The medium improves the wave absorption properties and the wave band of the single CB absorbent. The microstructure, conductivity, dielectric property, and microwave absorption of the material are studied by means of field emission scanning electron microscopy, trielectrode method, and vector network analyzer respectively. The results show that SiC can reduce the percolation threshold of CB/epoxide resin composite. Addition of certain mass of SiC can improve the microwave absorption of the composite. When 5 wt.% carbon black is blended with 50 wt.% SiC to fabricate a composite with a 2 mm thickness, the maximum reflection loss becomes -41 dB at 9 GHz, and the -10 dB bandwidth reaches 6 GHz. Thus, the prepared composite has the potential for use in electromagnetic absorption. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Volume 40, Issue 8, December 2009, Pages 727-730
Amit Kumar Saxena | Thomas J J Elder | Shaobo Pan | Arthur Jonas Ragauskas
Nanocellulosic-xylan films were prepared employing oat spelt xylan, cellulose whiskers and a plasticizer. The mechanical properties of the films were evaluated using tensile testing under controlled temperature and humidity conditions. The tensile data showed that the addition of sulfonated cellulose whiskers lead to a substantial improvement in strength properties. Addition of 7 wt% of sulfonated whiskers increased the tensile energy absorption of xylan films by 445% and the tensile strength of the film by 141%. Furthermore, films to which 7% cellulose whiskers were added showed that nanocellulose whiskers produced with sulfuric acid (sulfonated whiskers) were significantly better at increasing film strength than cellulose whiskers produced by hydrochloric acid hydrolysis of cellulosic fibers. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Volume 41, Issue 1, January 2010, Pages 86-93
Gabriele Tagliavia | Maurizio Porfiri | Nikhil M. Gupta
This paper studies flexural properties of vinyl ester-glass hollow-particle filled composites, which are used in marine applications. Sixteen compositions of composite materials are studied under three-point bending conditions to assess the effect of wall thickness and volume fraction of hollow inclusions. The results show that the flexural modulus of several composites is higher as compared to the neat resin. Moreover, the specific modulus of all composites is higher than the neat resin providing the possibility of appreciable weight saving in marine structures. Nevertheless, the flexural strength of the composites is lower than that of the neat resin. In addition, it is found that the flexural strength decreases as the inclusion volume fraction increases and is independent of the inclusion wall thickness. An analytical framework is presented to interpret the experimental findings and generate predictive capabilities for hollow-particle filled composites. Tractable formulas are used for computing the flexural modulus and strength from the mechanical and geometrical properties of the constituents. Analytical and experimental results are found to be in close agreement. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Volume 41, Issue 4, June 2010, Pages 317-325
Paul J. Gray | Conor T. McCarthy
This paper presents the development and validation of a global bolted joint model (GBJM), a highly efficient modelling strategy for bolted composite joints. Shell elements are used to model the composite laminates and the bolt is represented by a combination of beam elements coupled to rigid contact surfaces. The GBJM can capture effects such as bolt-hole clearance, bolt-torque, friction between laminates, secondary and tertiary bending in the laminates as well as the load distribution in multi-bolt joints. The GBJM is validated using both three-dimensional finite element models and experiments on both single- and multi-bolt joints. The GBJM was found to be robust, accurate and highly efficient, with time savings of up to 97% realised over full three-dimensional finite element models. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Volume 44, Issue 1, January 2013, Pages 657-674
Ana M A Neves | António Joaquim Mendes Ferreira | Erasmo Carrera | Maria Cinefra | Carla Maria Da Cunha Roque | Renato Natal Natal Jorge | Cristóvão Manuel Mota Soares
In this paper the authors derive a higher-order shear deformation theory for modeling functionally graded plates accounting for extensibility in the thickness direction. The explicit governing equations and boundary conditions are obtained using the principle of virtual displacements under Carrera's Unified Formulation. The static and eigenproblems are solved by collocation with radial basis functions. The efficiency of the present approach is assessed with numerical results including deflection, stresses, free vibration, and buckling of functionally graded isotropic plates and functionally graded sandwich plates. © 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Volume 40, Issue 3, April 2009, Pages 189-196
Yibin Xue | Yicheng Du | Steven H. Elder | Kunpeng Wang | Jilei Zhang
This paper presents extensive experiments and micromechanics-based modeling to evaluate systematically the tensile properties of kenaf bast fibers bundle (KBFB) and kenaf bast fiber-reinforced epoxy strands. Uniaxial tension behaviors of KBFBs and KBFB-reinforced epoxy strands were evaluated statistically using large sample sets. The elastic modulus, tensile strength, as well as failure strains of KBFBs, displayed large scatter statistically ranging from 10% to 30%. The loading rate-dependency was evaluated at three strain rates ranging from approximately 10-4 ∼ 10-2/s. The tensile strength increases gradually as the loading rate increases, while the tensile modulus almost remains the same as the loading rate increases until the loading rate reaches 10-2/s, at which a much higher modulus was presented. The high temperatures (170-180 °C), possibly subjected during fiber processing and composite fabrication, do not impose significant effects on the tensile properties of KBFBs if the duration is less than 1-h. The tensile properties of KBFB were not affected by the conditioning at 130 °C for 24-h, which mimics the severe service temperature of automotive front-end components. KBFB-epoxy composite strands were further evaluated at various loading rates. A micromechanics-based Mori-Tanaka model was implemented to predict the anisotropic elastic moduli of KBFB and KBFB-epoxy composite strands based on the microstructural compositions. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.