The mechanical behaviour of chopped bagasse-EVA matrix composites is evalua
ted and compared with the behaviour of more common thermoplastic matrix com
posites and wood based materials. The results show that for bagasse particl
e sizes ranging from less than 3 mm to 30 mm the tensile and flexural prope
rties are independent of the bagasse size. The incorporation of chopped bag
asse produces a strong increase in the stiffness of the EVA matrix and it i
s shown that the deformability of the composites can be tailored by varying
the volume fraction of bagasse, without a big decrease in mechanical stren
gth. The results also show that EVA composites could compete with low densi
ty wood based materials.