Abstract:

The objective of this paper was to evaluate a micro-tensile testing technique for short length single fiber longitudinal tensile property testing.A newly designed micro tension tester (SF-I) was used to test different cellulosic single fibers, including bamboo, Chinese Fir and ramie. With the new tester, the effect of ambient humidity and the humidity cycle on the tensile properties of the fiber was investigated. The load-deflection curve of single fiber testing showed that a linear behavior presented to failure. The mean value of tensile strength,tensile modulus and strain for the 4-year-old bamboo fiber was 1 710 MPa,27.1 GPa,7.0%,respectively. The bamboo,Chinese Fir and ramie single fiber are all moisture-sensitive. Among the fibers investigated, ramie fiber shows the most sensitive to the humidity. Furthermore, the strain of fibers was smaller and smaller after be repeated tensile under the same load.

Key words: micro-tensile technology, single vegetable fibers, longitudinal tensile properties, moisture, multi-cycle tensile property