Predicting the elastic properties of sisal fiber reinforced polypropylene composites by a new method based on generalized method of cells and laminate analogy approach

In this paper, a new method based on generalized method of cells and laminate analogy approach was used to predict the elastic properties of short sisal fiber reinforced polypropylene composites. The effects of fiber volume fractions and fiber aspect ratios on the elastic properties of composites were studied by the new model and other models. Continuous fiber composite and layered composite, as two special cases were analyzed in detail by this new model. The results show that both fiber volume fraction and fiber aspect ratio have significant effects on the axial Young’s modulus. However, the fiber volume fraction has very small effects on the transverse Young’s modulus, axial shear modulus and axial Poisson’s ratio. The new model agrees better than other models with the experimental data. The elastic properties of composites with complex microstructures can be predicted efficiently by this new model.