An experimental investigation of fabricating biodegradable composite pipes by filament winding (FW) method using ramie yarn as continuous fibre reinforcements is conducted. Though ramie fibres are discontinuous fibres in origin, ramie yarns can be handled as continuous fibre due to high aspect ratio of the fibre. Influence of use of the yarn on mechanical properties of the FW pipes is also evaluated. Axial and circumferential tensile tests are conducted for the FW pipes fabricated with various winding tensions. Results demonstrate that the winding tension affects not fracture load but only fibre volume fraction of the composites. Furthermore, properties of ramie yarn in FW pipes have been focused on. It has been shown that the elastic modulus of FW pipes using ramie yarns is lower than that of angle-plied laminates while mechanical properties of FW pipes and angle-plied laminates using glass or carbon fibre are comparable. From experimental evidences, it has been found that waviness of the ramie yarns caused by their own large diameter strongly affects the mechanical properties of the FW pipes, and that the ramie yarns do not exert their properties adequately in the FW pipes.
