Development of a novel mechanical tester for microfracture analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11113/mjfas.v13n4-2.802Keywords:
elasticity, fracture, flax fibre, oil palm empty fruit bunch fibre, coir fibreAbstract
The study of the mechanical properties of materials is important in the design and fabrication of any microscale product. Acquiring information such as the fracture toughness, fatigue limits, ultimate tensile and yield strength of these materials would help to determine the reliability of the final product made using the material. Traditionally, these material properties are obtained via mechanical testing on a macroscale tester such as the machines produced by Instron. However, mechanical testing of ‘softer’ materials with a microscopic size is more complicated as the test procedures and equipment have to address concerns such as clamping and alignment of specimen. Recent advancement in micromachining and micro-manufacturing has resulted in the availability of advanced and affordable instrumentation that can be applied to precisely manipulate the materials at microscopic dimensions; this provides the impetus to the development of microscale mechanical testers to study the micro-elasticity and micro-fracture mechanics of soft materials. The focus of this report is on the development of a micromechanical tester that can be used to study micrometer thick biomaterials and biological tissues. The tester can be mounted onto an X-Y stage of an inverted or compound microscope to observe the microscopic deformation and microfracture of the test specimen during testing. Three case studies are presented here to illustrate the performance of the mechanical tester. These studies address the characterisation of the mechanical properties of the flax fibre, oil palm empty fruit bunch fibre and coir fibre in dry and wet states.
References
Abraham, E., Deepa, B., Pothen, L. A., Cintil, J., Thomas, S., John, M. J., et al. (2013). Environmental friendly method for the extraction of coir fibre and isolation of nanofibre. Carbohydrate Polymers, 92, 1477-1483.
Andersons, J., Sparnins, E., and Joffe, R. (2006). Stiffness and strength of flax fiber/polymer matrix composites. Polymer Composites, 27, 221-229.
Baley, C. (2002). Analysis of the flax fibres tensile behaviour and analysis of the tensile stiffness increase. Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 33, 939-948.
Bodros, E., Pillin, I., Montrelay, N., and Baley, C. (2007). Could biopolymers reinforced by randomly scattered flax fibre be used in structural applications? Composite Science and Technology, 67, 462-470.
Bosia, F., Lepore, E., Alvarez, N. T., Miller, P., Shanov, V., and Pugno, N. M. (2016). Knotted synthetic polymer or carbon nanotube microfibre with enhanced toughness, up to 1400 J/g. Polymer, 102, 116e125.
Buana, S. A. S. M., Pasbaskhsh, P., Goh, K. L., Bateni, F., and Haris, M. R. H. M. (2013). Elasticity, microstructure and thermal stability of foliage and fruit fibres from four tropical crops. Fibers and Polymers, 14, 623-629.
Chew, S. L., Wang, K., Chai, S. P., and Goh, K. L. (2011). Elasticity, thermal stability and bioactivity of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes reinforced chitosan-based microfibres. Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine, 22, 1365-1374.
De Silva, R. T., Pasbakhsh, P., Goh, K. L., Chai, S.-P., and Ismail, H. (2013). Physico-chemical characterisation of chitosan/halloysite composite membranes. Polymer Testing, 32, 265-271.
Fong, T. C., Saba, N. C., Liew, K., De Silva, R., Enamul Hoque, M., Goh Yarn K. L. (2015). Flax fibres for polymer-coated sutures and hand layup polymer composite laminates. Manufacturing of Natural Fibre Reinforced Polymer Composites, 155-175.
Geethamma, V. G., Kalaprasad, G., Groeninckx, G. l., and Thomas, S. (2005). Dynamic mechanical behavior of short coir fiber reinforced natural rubber composites. Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 36, 1499-1506.
Geethamma, V. G., Thomas Mathew, K., Lakshminarayanan, R., and Thomas, S. (1998). Composite of short coir fibres and natural rubber: effect of chemical modification, loading and orientation of fibre. Polymer, 39, 1483-1491.
Geethamma, V. G., and Thomas, S. (2005). Diffusion of water and artificial seawater through coir fiber reinforced natural rubber composites. Polymer Composites, 26, 136-143.
Gibson, L. J. (2012). The hierarchical structure and mechanics of plant materials. Journal of the Royal Society, Interface, 1-18.
Goh, K. L., Chen, Y., Chou, S. M., Listrat, A., Bechet, D., and Wess, T. J. J. (2010). Effects of frozen storage temperature on the elasticity of tendons from a small murine model. Animal, 4, 1613-1617.
Goh, K. L., Holmes, D. F., Lu, H. Y., Richardson, S., Kadler, K. E., Purslow, P. P., et al. (2008). Ageing changes in the tensile properties of tendons : Influence of collagen fibril volume. Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, 130, 021011.
Goh, K. L., Holmes, D. F., Lu, Y., Purslow, P. P., Kadler, K. E., Bechet, D., et al. (2012). Bimodal collagen fibril diameter distributions direct age-related variations in tendon resilience and resistance to rupture. Journal of Applied Physiology, 113, 878-888.
Govindasamy, K., Fernandopulle, C., Pasbakhsh, P., and Goh, K. L. (2014). Synthesis and characterisation of electrospun chitosan membranes reinforced by halloysite nanotubes. Journal of Mechanics in Medicine and Biology, 14, 1450058.
Hill, C. A. S., and Abdul Khalil, H. P. S. (2000). Effect of fiber treatments on mechanical properties of coir or oil palm fiber reinforced polyester composites. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 78, 1685-1697.
Kalam, A., Sahari, B. B., Khalid, Y. A., and Wong, S. V. (2005). Fatigue behaviour of oil palm fruit bunch fibre/epoxy and carbon fibre/epoxy composites. Composite Structures, 71, 34-44.
Lai, W., and Goh, K. (2015). Consequences of ultra-violet irradiation on the mechanical properties of spider silk. Journal of Functional Biomaterials, 6, 901-916.
Monteiro, S. N., Terrones, L. A. H., Almeida, J. R. M. D. (2008). Mechanical performance of coir fiber/polyester composites. Polymer Testing, 27, 591-595.
Owolarafe, O. K., Olabige, M. T., Faborode, M. O. (2007a). Physical and mechanical properties of two varieties of fresh oil palm fruit. Journal of Food Engineering, 78, 1228-1232.
Owolarafe, O. K., Olabige, T. M., Faborode, M. O. (2007b). Macro-structural characterisation of palm fruit at different processing conditions. Journal of Food Engineering, 79, 31-36.
Purslow, P. P., Wess, T. J., Hukins, D. W. L. (1998). Collagen orientation and molecular spacing during creep and stress-relaxation in soft connective tissues. The Journal of Experimental Biology, 201, 135–142.
Puxkandl, R., Zizak, I., Paris, O., Keckes, J., Tesch, W., Bernstorff, S., et al. (2002). Viscoelastic properties of collagen: synchrotron radiation investigations and structural model. Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society B, 357, 191-197.
Sreekala, M. S., Kumaran, M. G., and Thomas, S. (1997). Oil palm fibers: morphology, chemical composition, surface modification, and mechanical properties. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 66, 821-835.
Tan, Z. E., Liew, C. K., Yee, F. C., Talamona, D., Goh, K. L. (2017). Oil palm empty fruit bunch fibres and biopolymer composites: possible effects of moisture on the elasticity, fracture properties and reliability. In M. Jawaid, S. M. Sapuan and O. Y. Alothman (Eds.), Green Biocomposites: Manufacturing and Properties, 271-292, Springer Nature.
Thomas, S., Woh, Y.-K., Wang, R., Goh, K. L. (2017). Probing the hydrophilicity of coir fibres: analysis of the mechanical properties of single coir fibres. Procedia Engineering, 200, 206-212.
Wang, K., Liao, K., Goh, K. L. (2015). How sensitive is the elasticity of hydroxyapatite-nanoparticle- reinforced chitosan composite to changes in particle concentration and crystallization temperature? Journal of Functional Biomaterials, 6, 986-998.
Wang, K., Loo, L. S., Goh, K. L. (2016). A facile method for processing lignin reinforced chitosan biopolymer microfibres: Optimising the fibre mechanical properties through lignin type and concentration. Materials Research Express, 3, 035301.
Xie, J. Z., Hein, S., Wang, K., Liao, K., Goh, K. L. (2008). Influence of hydroxyapatite crystallization temperature and concentration on stress transfer in wet-spun nanohydroxyapatite-chitosan composite fibres. Biomedical Materials, 3, 2-6.
Yeo, Y. L., Goh, K. L., Kin, L., Wang, H. J., Listrat, A., Bechet, D. (2011). Structure-property relationship of burn collagen reinforcing musculo-skeletal tissues. Key Engineering Materials, 478, 87-92.
Zhu, J., Zhu, H., Njuguna, J., and Abhyankar, H. (2013). Recent development of flax fibres and their reinforced composites based on different polymeric matrices. Materials, 6, 5171-5198.
