Morphological, thermal and mechanical characterization of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) fibres as potential reinforcement in polymer composites

Okra technical fibres are extracted from the stem of a plant of the Malvaceae family (Abelmoschus esculentus), which is originally from Egypt, but is also cropped in Southern Asia and elsewhere for nutritional purposes. Their use as potential reinforcement in polymer composites requires the understanding of their microstructure and mechanical properties. This work investigates the morphology of the technical fibres through optical and electron microscopy and their thermal behaviour through thermogravimetric analysis. Single fibre tensile tests were performed in order to obtain their mechanical properties and the results were analyzed through a two-parameter Weibull distribution. The fracture modes of okra fibres were also addressed. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.