Development of flax/rPET thermoplastic tapes: Interfacial phenomena, impregnation behaviour and mechanical performance
Abstract
The development of sustainable thermoplastic composites requires impregnation strategies capable of over- coming the high viscosity of molten polymers while preserving natural-fibre reinforcements. In this study, continuous flax/rPET thermoplastic tapes were manufactured through a capillary-driven solvent-based impreg- nation process in which post-consumer PET was dissolved in hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) and precipitated within flax reinforcements. The interfacial and processing mechanisms were investigated through thermo- gravimetric analysis, surface-energy measurements, surface-tension characterization, capillary wicking tests and tensile testing. The two flax reinforcements exhibited different apparent surface energies, with values of 63.6 ± 6 and 55.9 ± 13 mN/m for the 500 TEX and 600 TEX reinforcements, respectively. Capillary- rise experiments yielded mean apparent advancing contact angles of 59.8 ± 14.3◦ and 69.4 ± 6.6◦, respectively, indicating a tendency towards more favourable wetting for the 500 TEX reinforcement, although the difference was not statistically significant. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that the flax-associated degradation peak remained essentially unchanged under nitrogen after tape manufacturing, while under oxygen it shifted from approximately 335.0 ◦C for pristine flax to 376.4 ◦C in the flax/rPET tapes. After PET incorporation, the apparent tensile responses of the two tapes became comparable, with RaidTEX values of 6.67 ± 0.46 and 5.59 ± 0.58 cN/TEX for the 500 TEX and 600 TEX tapes, respectively. These results demonstrate the feasibility of manufacturing flax/rPET thermoplastic tapes by solvent-assisted capillary impregnation and highlight the combined influence of fibre surface properties, reinforcement architecture and impregnation behaviour on the resulting tape performance.
Related
- Cassava Starch Thermoplastic Packaging: A Systematic Evidence Map of Additive and Property Relations for Water Affinity and Mechanical Performance
- Mechanical performance and eco-efficiency of thermoplastic polyurethane composites reinforced with recycled tire rubber
- Analysis of temperature-dependent polar and dispersive surface energy components of thermoplastic: Impact on fiber-matrix adhesion and interfacial shear strength
- Lunar Regolith Simulant–Filled High-Performance Thermoplastic Composites for Lunar Construction and Their Potential for Additive Manufacturing
- Synergistic flame retardancy of reduced graphene oxide-bimetallic selenide hybrid in thermoplastic polyurethane: enhanced performance and fire safety evaluation
BibTeX
@article{mathouillot2026development,
title = {{Development of flax/rPET thermoplastic tapes: Interfacial phenomena, impregnation behaviour and mechanical performance}},
author = {Élise Mathouillot and Monica Francesca Pucci and Pierre-Jacques Liotier},
journal = {Composites Part C: Open Access},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.jcomc.2026.100826},
url = {https://imt-mines-ales.hal.science/hal-05802213v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Development of flax/rPET thermoplastic tapes: Interfacial phenomena, impregnation behaviour and mechanical performance
AU - Élise Mathouillot
AU - Monica Francesca Pucci
AU - Pierre-Jacques Liotier
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/05
JO - Composites Part C: Open Access
DO - 10.1016/j.jcomc.2026.100826
UR - https://imt-mines-ales.hal.science/hal-05802213v1
AB - The development of sustainable thermoplastic composites requires impregnation strategies capable of over- coming the high viscosity of molten polymers while preserving natural-fibre reinforcements. In this study, continuous flax/rPET thermoplastic tapes were manufactured through a capillary-driven solvent-based impreg- nation process in which post-consumer PET was dissolved in hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) and precipitated within flax reinforcements. The interfacial and processing mechanisms were investigated through thermo- gravimetric analysis, surface-energy measurements, surface-tension characterization, capillary wicking tests and tensile testing. The two flax reinforcements exhibited different apparent surface energies, with values of 63.6 ± 6 and 55.9 ± 13 mN/m for the 500 TEX and 600 TEX reinforcements, respectively. Capillary- rise experiments yielded mean apparent advancing contact angles of 59.8 ± 14.3◦ and 69.4 ± 6.6◦, respectively, indicating a tendency towards more favourable wetting for the 500 TEX reinforcement, although the difference was not statistically significant. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that the flax-associated degradation peak remained essentially unchanged under nitrogen after tape manufacturing, while under oxygen it shifted from approximately 335.0 ◦C for pristine flax to 376.4 ◦C in the flax/rPET tapes. After PET incorporation, the apparent tensile responses of the two tapes became comparable, with RaidTEX values of 6.67 ± 0.46 and 5.59 ± 0.58 cN/TEX for the 500 TEX and 600 TEX tapes, respectively. These results demonstrate the feasibility of manufacturing flax/rPET thermoplastic tapes by solvent-assisted capillary impregnation and highlight the combined influence of fibre surface properties, reinforcement architecture and impregnation behaviour on the resulting tape performance.
SN - 2666-6820
ER -