Abstract
The purpose of this study is to create an excellent toughness property, which cannot be exhibited by GFRP, for natural fiber green composites. By improving fracture strain of ramie fibers by means of mercerization, a unidirectional green composite reinforced by the fibers was dramatically improved in toughness. In tensile properties of the composite, additionally, deformation resistance increases with an increase in strain rate. This stress increase was quite useful for improvement of impact resistance. From the falling weight impact test, it was proved that the laminate composite (0°/90°/0°) using mercerized ramie pre-form sheets absorbed larger impact energy than the composite using untreated ramie pre-form sheets.
