Conclusion

Overall, hair has the highest tensile and flexural strength and well as the highest tensile strength for the reinforced composites, perhaps due to the static attraction between the hair and the matrix or the high strength of hair itself. The control performed better than the composites in terms of max. bending stress and tensile strength; these properties worsened with higher fibre content. A balance needs to be established between the amount of reinforcements and matrix materials: the more the fibres, the higher the probability that there will be fibres bridging stress across cracked areas, yet the composite needs to be saturated with the matrix. Thus around 25% seems to be an optimal amount.

Our experiments show that composites have a high potential in solving the plastic demand and waste problem; they are also only 1/3 the cost of glass fibres. Future tests include testing the performances of sample with the exact same matrix content, biodegradability, water and heat resistance, and effects of plasticizers.