Track: Product Design and Development

Abstract

New engineered materials with unique properties are essential for space technologies, structural and bio-engineering. The need for sustainability and high strength and stiffness on a weight basis on reinforced composites orients the research efforts towards natural fibers. Coconut, Areca nut and Pandanus fibers are available in impressive quantities in all islands of the South Pacific and are traditionally used in textile and construction applications. The authors focus their research on composite materials with such natural fibers and their behaviour under stress. Finite Element Methods are employed in the evaluation of the behaviour of composites with natural fibers under various stress conditions. Elastic properties of newly created composites are evaluated on computer- controlled environments and they validate the simulations.