Analysis of the dependence of the tensile behaviour of a short fibre reinforced polyamide upon fibre volume fraction, length and orientation

The tensile properties of different grades of a short fibre reinforced polyamide, having various contents of glass fibres, were analysed. The fibre length distributions, obtained by optical microscope observations of the fibres extracted from the matrix, were statistically analysed and compared. The tensile behaviour of the different materials was modelled by applying micro-mechanical models, taking into account the fibre length distributions. The effect of the fibre content on the fibre orientation distribution is discussed on the basis of the analysis of the reconstructions of the internal fibre structure by micro tomography using synchrotron light. The relationship between the degree of anisotropy and the orientation factors used in the models is discussed.