Study on the tensile mechanical property of wool bundle fibers through fracture sounds detected by acoustic emission

This study deals with the prediction of the mechanical properties of wool bundle fibers and the characterization of the fracture performance of fiber fracture sound. Acoustic emission detection was used to record the fracture sound of wool fibers. According to the fracture sounds, the tensile properties of the bundle fibers were obtained. Acoustic emission provided a convenient method for obtaining fibers breaking elongation distribution. Based on the fiber bundle model and fiber breaking distribution, the fracture strength and elongation of bundle fibers could be predicted. Meanwhile, based on the correlation between the amplitude of fiber fracture sound and fiber breaking strength, the single fiber breaking strength could be predicted and the tensile properties of bundle fibers could also be obtained. The prediction results based on bundle fiber fracture sound were more similar to the measured results. Besides, the number of fibers within the bundle increased, the fiber interaction was also enhanced, and the bundle fiber strength prediction results were affected. This work was considered to have the potential of being used in the prediction of mechanical properties of natural fiber composites.