Composites Science and Technology 62 (2002) 18571868 www.elsevier.

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A comparison of the mechanical properties of phenol formaldehyde composites reinforced with banana bres and glass bres
Seena Josepha, M.S. Sreekalab, Z. Oommena, P. Koshyc, Sabu Thomasb,*
b a Department of Chemistry, CMS College, Kottayam, Kerala, India School of Chemical Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Priyadarshini Hills (PO), Kottayam , Kerala, India c Regional Research Laboratory, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

Received 23 October 2001; received in revised form 27 May 2002; accepted 28 May 2002

Abstract Composites were fabricated using banana bre and glass bre with varying bre length and bre loading. The analysis of tensile, exural and impact properties of these composites revealed that the optimum length of bre required for banana bre and glass bre are dierent in phenol formaldehyde resole matrix. Both banana bre and glass bre reinforced composites show a regular trend of increase in properties with bre loading. Interfacial shear strength values obtained from single bre pull out test reveal that the interlocking between banana bre and phenol formaldehyde resin is much higher than that between glass and phenol formaldehyde resin. SEM studies were carried out to evaluate bre/matrix interactions. Finally the experimental tensile strength were compared with the theoretical predictions. # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: A. Polymer/matrix composites; A. Short bre composites; B. Fibre/matrix bond; B. Interfacial strength; B. Mechanical properties

1. Introduction The interest in using natural bres such as dierent plant bres and wood bres as reinforcement in plastics has increased dramatically during last few years. With regard to the environmental aspects it would be very interesting if natural bres could be used instead of glass bres as reinforcement in some structural applications. Natural bres have many advantages compared to glass bres, for example they have low density, they are recyclable and biodegradable. Additionally they are renewable raw materials and have relatively high strength and stiness [16]. Their low-density values allow producing composites that combine good mechanical properties with a low specic mass. In tropical countries brous plants are available in abundance and some of them like banana are agricultural crops. Banana bre at present is a waste product of banana cultivation. Hence without any additional cost input
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91-481-730003/731036; fax: +91481-561190. E-mail addresses: sabut@vsnl.com or sabuthom@satyam.net.in (S. Thomas).

banana bre can be obtained for industrial purposes. Banana bre is found to be a good reinforcement in polyester resin [7]. Resole type phenolics possess exceptional adhesive properties and have high rigidity, dimensional stability and exceptional heat and re resistance due to a highly crosslinked aromatic structure. The modication of phenolic resins by inclusion of bres, particulate llers or elastomeric materials [810] enables them to overcome the high brittleness and cure shrinkage, the major drawbacks that prevent the widespread application of resins. Phenolic resin generates chemical bonding with lignocellulosic reinforcement, leading to strong forces between bre and resin. Thus a high compatibility in the system between vegetable bre and polymer is achieved. It is reported that oil palm bre is a potential reinforcement for phenolic resoles [11]. The properties of the composites are strongly inuenced by the bre length. The strength, modulus, mode of failure and fracture toughness of a composite is not only dependent on the properties of the bre and matrix, bre volume fraction and bre orientation but also on the interfacial parameters of the composite. A weak interface drastically reduces the o axis strength, the exural strength [12] and the compression strength [13].

0266-3538/02/$ - see front matter # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S0266-3538(02)00098-2

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An increase in interfacial strength leads to a substantial increase in tensile strength and modulus of a short bre composite [14]. The single bre pull out is a very eective method for determining the interfacial bond strength. In the present work a detailed investigation has been carried out on banana/PF composites especially on the eect of varying bre length, and bre loading. Tensile exural and impact performance of these composites are compared with those of glass bre composites. Interfacial shear strength of banana bre and glass bre in phenol formaldehyde resin is also calculated from the load displacement curves of pull out tests.

fraction constant) and volume fractions (keeping the bre length constant). 2.3. Mechanical tests Single bre pull out specimen is prepared as shown in the Fig. 1. Here a single bre is taken and partially embedded in resin kept in a box like container. The embedded length, the bre length between the matrix and bre is kept as 5 mm and bre free length as 20 mm. After curing, the upright bre is pulled out from the block of resin using universal testing machine at a crosshead speed of 10 mm/min. The load and displacement are recorded during the test. Tensile testing of banana bre and glass bre were carried out in a FIE universal testing machine at a cross head speed of 10 mm/min. Specimens were prepared by mounting single bres on a sti card board piece with a 50 mm window. The ends of bres were xed on the cardboard. The diameters of the bre specimens were measured microscopically and average of six readings was taken for diameter determination. Test specimens were cut from composite sheets. Tensile testing was carried out in a FIE universal tensile testing machine TNE-500 according to ASTM D 638 76. The three point exural properties were determined by same machine according to ASTM D 790. The load displacement curves were obtained and exural strength and modulus were calculated. Izod Impact test was done on notched specimen with an impact speed of 3.46 m/s and incident energy of 2.75 joules according to ASTM D 256. Minimum of four samples were tested in each case and the average value is reported. The surface of the fractured specimens under tensile and impact tests were examined using a Jeol scanning electron microscope.

2. Experimental 2.1. Materials Banana bre obtained from Sheeba Fibers and Handicrafts, Poovancode, Thamilnadu was used in this study. Phenol formaldehyde resole type resin obtained from M/S West Coast Polymers Pvt. Ltd., Kannur, Kerala was used as matrix. Important characteristics of banana bre and phenol formaldehyde resins are given in Tables 1 and 2. The glass bre used was E-glass roving obtained from Hitech Fibre Corporation, Bangalore. 2.2. Preparation of composites Prepreg route was followed for the preparation of composites. Hand lay-up method followed by compression molding was adopted for composite fabrication. Mats of uniform thickness were prepared from chopped banana bres and glass bers of particular bre length. The mats were impregnated in PF resin and the prepreg was kept at room temperature up to semicured stage. It was then pressed at 100  C in a mould having dimensions 150 mm150 mm3 mm to get a three dimensionally crosslinked network. Dierent composite sheets are prepared varying the bre length (keeping bre volume
Table 1 Chemical characteristics of banana bre Cellulose Hemi cellulose Lignin Moisture 6364% 19% 5% 1011%

3. Results and discussion 3.1. Adhesion between bre and matrix The strength of interfacial bond between the bres and matrix is a key parameter in controlling the behavior of

Table 2 Characteristics of phenol formaldehyde resole Appearance Viscosity (CPS) Water tolerance Solid content% Deep brown colour 1822 1:18 50

Fig. 1. Single bre pull out test specimen.

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composites. One of the methods used to assess and investigate the interfacial bond is the single bre pullout test. The shape of the force displacement curves in the pull-out test depends ultimately on the intrinsic characteristics of the interface and on the dynamics of the test. However, as pointed out by Laws [15] and Chua and Piggot [16] there is a sudden release of the strain energy stored in the free path of the bre under tension when the interface fails. The elastic contraction of the bre may result in its full extraction from resin. The force displacement curves obtained from pull out tests in banana bre and glass bre embedded in PF resin matrix is shown in the Figs. 2 and 3. In banana bre/PF system due to strongly bonded interface, the strain energy stored in the free length of the bre is so high that immediate extraction follows the interface failure. Therefore the load displacement curve of the pull out test of banana bre embedded in PF matrix shows only the maximum load. In the load displacement curves of pull out test of glass bre from PF matrix, another type of behavior as observed by Penn et al. [17] is found. Here rst peek corresponds to complete debonding; the later ones originate in the damage caused by friction when non-embedded part of the bre is pulled up through the matrix. The shear strength of the bre/resin interface is a key property when investigating the micromechanical behavior of composites since it is a measure of the integrity of the interface. In glass/PF composites the load displacement curve is having dierent regions. The debonding crack initiates around the half waypoint and propagates in region 1. Region 2 is a transition regime where the maximum

Fig.3. Force displacement curves obtained for single bre pull out test of glass bre.

force for complete debonding, Fd, reduces to a value required for extracting the debonded bre from the matrix. A relaxation in strain energy in matrix and bre accompanies this reduction in force. The oscillations in region 2 are due to stick and slip between the bre and matrix during the transition from crack debonding phase to pull out phase, which occurs while the specimen is being stained in the testing machine. From load displacement curves the debonding shear strength (d) is calculated from the equation d Fd Dlc 1

Fig. 2. Force displacement curves obtained from single bre pull out test of banana bre.

where Fd is the debonding force, D bre diameter measured microscopically, and lc, the embedded length of the bre. The  values obtained from the above equation are given in Table 4. The interfacial shear strength value is much higher in banana/PF composites than for glass/ PF composite. This is due to the hydrophilic nature of cellulose and PF resin. Hydrophilicity of bre arises from the hydroxyl groups of lignin and cellulose, which can easily form hydrogen bonds with methylol and phenolic hydroxyl groups of the resole resulting in a strong interlocking between the two. Fig. 4 shows the chemical interaction between banana bre and phenol formaldehyde resin. But in glass/PF composites such an interaction is not present and the interfacial shear strength value is very small as compared to that of banana bre composites.

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Table 3 Tensile properties of banana bre and glass bre Fibre Banana bre Glass bre Tensile strength (Gpa) 0.5 3 Initial modulus (GPa) 12 65 Elongation at break (%) 7 3

Table 4 Interfacial shear strength values obtained from single bre pull out tests Fibre type Banana bre/PF Glass bre/PF ISS values (MPa) 44 7

3.2. Tensile properties 3.2.1. Intrinsic properties of bres Tensile properties of banana bre and glass bre are given in Table 3. Tensile strength and modulus values are found to be much higher in glass bres compared to banana bre. The elongation at break value is found to be higher in banana bre. The cellulose bre is found to have higher extensibility compared to glass bre.

3.2.2. Eect of bre length The properties of the composites are strongly inuenced by the bre length. The eect of bre ends plays an important role in the fracture of short bre composites. Inorder to achieve the maximum level of stress in the bre, the bre length lf must be at least equal to critical bre length lc, the minimum length of bre required for the stress to reach the fracture stress of bre. It is reported that the composites with bre length lf < 5 lc has strength signicantly lower than that of a continuos bre composite with same volume fraction of bre. However, the strength of a short bre composite increases with length of bre for a given Vf and for length above 10lc, the dierence between the strength of the two composites becomes equal [18]. Fig. 5 shows a schematic representation of the situation when the bres are having length below lc, above lc, and at lc. Thus it is very important to optimize the bre length for a particular matrix/bre system so that maximum properties can be achieved. The uniaxial stress-strain behavior of banana/PF and glass/PF composites with dierent bre lengths are shown in the Figs. 6 and 7. The stress value is found to increase linearly with strain at low elongation. A non-linear behavior is observed at high elongation. This behavior is observed in all lengths of banana/PF composites.

Fig. 4. Schematic model showing the interface of banana bre and phenol formaldehyde.

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Fig. 5. Diagrams of tensile stress applied at dierent bre lengths.

Fig. 6. Stressstrain behavior of banana bre reinforced phenolics at dierent bre lengths (bre loading 30%).

Fig. 7. Stressstrain behavior of glass bre reinforced phenolics at dierent bre lengths (bre loading 30%).

From the gure it is clear that for a given strain level stress increases with bre length up to 30 mm and then decreases indicating the optimum bre length of 30 mm for banana/PF composites. In glass bre composites almost linear increase of stress with increase of strain is observed in all lengths of bres. The stress value is found to be the highest for 40mm bre and the value then decreases on increasing the bre lengths. This lowering of stress value at higher bre lengths can be attributed to the bre entanglements formed at higher lengths. The inuence of bre length on tensile strength and youngs modulus of banana/PF composites are obtained from Table 5. In banana/PF composites the tensile strength and youngs modulus values are increased on

increasing the bre length to 30 mm and then a decrease is found at a higher bre length. The elongation value is not found to have any considerable variation with bre length. From Table 6 it is clear that in glass/PF composites, the maximum tensile properties are shown by composites of 40 mm and hence 40 mm is the optimum bre length for eective stress transfer between the glass bre and PF resin. From the tensile behavior of resole composites bre length of 30 mm was found to be the optimum bre length for banana/PF composites and 40 mm was found to be the optimum length for glass bres. In the case of bres shorter than this optimum length, the bres will debond from the matrix resulting in failure of composite under low strain.

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Table 5 Tensile properties of banana/PF composites at dierent bre lengths (bre loading 45%) Fibre length (mm) 0 10 20 30 40 Tensile strength (MPa) 7 12 20 26 23 Youngs modulus (MPa) 175 268 291 556 398 Elongation at break (%) 3 8 8 7 9

Table 6 Tensile properties of glass/PF composites at dierent bre lengths (bre loading 25%) Fibre length (mm) 0 20 30 40 50 Tensile strength (MPa) 7 11 13 17 15 Youngs modulus (MPa) 175 256 284 304 316 Elongation at break (%) 3 6 11 8 7

Fig. 9. Stressstrain behavior of glass bre reinforced phenolics at dierent bre loadings (bre length 40 mm).

3.2.3. Eect of bre loading The stress strain behavior of banana/PF and glass/PF composites at varying bre loading is shown in Figs. 8 and 9. From stress strain curves of composites it is found that stress strain curves of pure PF is similer to that of brittle materials. The behavior is elastic in nature. However addition of bers makes the matrix ductile. This is evident from the high elongation at break value of composites.

Fig. 8. Stressstrain behavior of banana bre reinforced phenolics at dierent bre loadings (bre length 30 mm).

In Banana/PF composites the tensile strength and youngs modulus is found to increase with increase in bre loading (Table 7). The tensile strength and youngs modulus are found to have 400 and 320% increase with increasing banana bre loading to 48% when compared with neat resin. The percentage elongation at break is very low in pure PF. The brittle nature of PF resin decreases with the addition of banana bre and therefore elongation value increases with bre loading. It is interesting to note that the failure elongation of the composite is much higher than that of the individual components at higher bre loading indicating a synergic eect. Similar behavior is observed in the glass/PF composites as shown in Table 8. Tensile strength and modulus values increase with increasing glass bre loading. The elongation value is higher compared to banana bre composites. This is because in banana/PF composites the predominant failure mechanism is bre fracture since there is a strong interaction between vegetable bers and phenolic resin, due to hydrophilic nature of cellulose and PF resin. So the debonding of bre from matrix is dicult and bre pull out is less in banana/PFsystem. But in glass/ PF composites bre pull out is possible due to weak interfacial shear strength and composite have more elongation compared to banana/PF composites. The tensile fractographs of composites glass/PF and banana/PF composites containing 40% bre loading are shown in the Figs. 10 and 11, respectively. In glass/ PF composites (Fig. 10a and b) there are bre pull out and bre debonding. The wetting of the glass bre by the matrix is very poor. But in the case of banana bre composites (Fig. 11a and b), the interlocking between the bre and matrix is very strong and the bre fracture

S. Joseph et al. / Composites Science and Technology 62 (2002) 18571868 Table 7 Tensile properties of banana/PF composites at dierent bre loading (bre length 30 mm) Fibre loading (wt.%) 0 16 27 32 41 48 Tensile strength (MPa) 7 6 16 20 26 28 Specic strength (MPa/g/cc) 5 5 13 19 25 26 Tensile modulus (MPa) 175 197 370 375 440 560 Specic modulus (MPa/g/cc) 135 163 354 357 427 552 Elongation at break (%) 3 7 9 10 11 11

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Table 8 Tensile properties of glass/PF composites at dierent bre loadings (bre length 30 mm) Fibre loading (wt.%) 0 18 28 35 40 Tensile strength (MPa) 7 7 17 37 42 Specic strength (MPa/g/cc) 5 5 13 27 26 Tensile modulus (MPa) 175 256 304 551 547 Specic modulus (MPa/g/cc) 135 179 227 408 344 Elongation at break (%) 3 3 9 16 14

occurs by the tensile force. In glass bre composites bre fracture is very small and predominant fracture mechanism is bre pull out. Fig. 11b is the magnied view of a banana bre from the tensile fracture surface of banana bre composites. It shows the interface failure, which results in loss of surface smoothness and debrillation of the bre. Amount of resin adhering to the banana bre is higher compared to that in glass bre. In both banana bre and glass bre composites the specic strength and modulus values increase with increasing bre content. Due to the higher density of glass bres compared banana bres, the glass bre reinforced composites are having higher density compared to banana bre reinforced composites. The specic strength and specic modulus values of glass bre reinforced composites are much lower than that of the tensile strength and modulus values. A slight decrease in the specic strength and modulus values is observed at higher bre loading. But in banana bre composites the specic strength is almost same as tensile strength and modulus values. In terms of the specic modulus and specic strength, the properties of banana bre composites are comparable to glass bre composites. 3.3. Flexural behavior By the application of exural force, the upper and lower surface of the specimen under three point bending

Fig. 10. Tensile fracture surface of glass bre/PF composites (bre loading 40%).

Fig. 11. Tensile fracture surface of banana bre/PF composites (bre loading 40%).

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load is subjected to compression and tension and axisymmetric plane is subjected to shear stress. So there are two failure modes in the materials; bending and shear failure. The specimen fails when bending or shear stress reaches the corresponding critical value. The modes of failure of the composites under three point bending can be obtained from the force deection curves [19]. When a specimen fails such that the slope of force deection curve decreases to zero shear failure takes place. If a curve is practically linear due to abrupt failure this is due to exural failure. Fig. 12 shows the stressstrain behavior of banana bre and glass bre composites under exural loading. The glass bre composites show high elasticity and lower extensibility. The high exural strength of glass bre is due to inherent property of glass bre. Banana bre introduces plasticising eect on PF matrix. So the banana /PF composites are having higher toughness. Due to the high extensibility of the bre banana bre can withstand the stress applied and will prevent the catastrophic failure of the composite. The dependence of exural properties of the composites on bre length in banana bre and glass bre reinforced resoles is given in Tables 9 and 10. In glassreinforced composites exural strength values increase with increasing bre length and maximum value is obtained for 50mm long bre composites. In banana bre composites the exural strength and modulus values are found to be very much lower compared with the values at higher lengths and maximum exural strength and modulus values are obtained for 40 mm bres.

The variation of exural strength and exural modulus values with bre loading in banana bre and glass bre composites are shown in Tables 11 and 12. Specic strength and modulus values also increase by incorporating glass bres. Studies of unidirectional composites formed of sisal/epoxy [20] show that there is a linear relationship between the exural strength and bre loading and the exural strength of composite exceeds that of resin. In banana bre polyester composites it has been shown that the exural strength is lower than the neat resin [7]. In oil palm bre reinforced resoles the
Table 9 Flexural properties of banana/PF composites at dierent bre lengths Fibre length (mm) 10 20 30 40 Flexural strength (MPa) 25 34 50 50 Flexural modulus (MPa) 516 593 2283 2481

Table 10 Flexural properties of glass/PF composites at dierent bre lengths Fibre length (mm) 20 30 40 50 Flexural strength (MPa) 38 50 51 55 Flexural modulus (MPa) 4120 5309 2989 3781

Table 11 Flexural properties of banana/PF composites at dierent bre loadings Fibre loading (wt.%) 0 16 27 32 45 Flexural strength (MPa) 10 34 36 45 50 Specic exural strength (MPa/g/cc) 8 28 34 43 49 Flaxural modulus (MPa) 1973 572 588 1120 2400 Specic exural modulus (MPa/g/cc) 1517 475 563 1079 2330

Table 12 Flexural properties of glass/PF composites at dierent bre loadings Fibre loading (wt.%) 0 18 28 35 40 Flexural strength (MPa) 10 25 52 63 73 Specic exural strength (MPa/g/cc) 8 17 38 45 46 Flexural modulus (MPa) 1973 4110 4381 5094 6454 Specic exural modulus (MPa/g/cc) 1517 2876 3195 3773 4059

Fig.12. Flexural stress-strain curves of banana bre and glass bre reinforced composites (bre loading 40%).

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exural strength increased linearly up to a maximum of 38% bre loading [11]. In the case of polyester resin the exural strength is 50 MPa compared with that of resoles which is about 11 MPa. In glass bre reinforced resoles both exural strength and modulus values are found to increase with increasing bre loading. About 600% increase in exural strength is obtained on incorporating 40% glass bre in neat phenolic matrix. At low loading of banana bre the exural modulus of reinforced composites is found to be lower than that of the neat resin. But on increasing the bre loading to 45% the exural modulus is increased to about 25%. The exural strength also shows very good enhancement on increasing bre loading. This improvement in properties is more pronounced in glass bre composites than that of banana bre composites. The specic strength and modulus values of both banana bre and glass bre composites also increase with bre loading. The specic exural strength of banana bre composite is comparable to glass bre composites. 3.4. Impact behavior The impact performance of bre-reinforced composites depends on many factors including the nature of the constituent, bre/matrix interface, the construction and geometry of the composite and test conditions. The impact failure of a composite occurs by factors like matrix fracture, bre/matrix debonding and bre pull out. Even though, bre pull out is found to be an important energy dissipation mechanism in bre reinforced composites [21]. The applied load transferred by shear to bres may exceed the bre/matrix interfacial bond strength and debonding occurs. When the stress level exceeds the bre strength, bre fracture occurs. The fractured bres may be pulled out of the matrix, which involves energy dissipation [22]. For banana bre reinforced composites and glass bre reinforced composites, the bre length was varied in order to examine the inuence of this parameter on impact strength as shown in Fig. 13. In both the composites the impact strength was found to increase with increasing bre length. Long bres have a larger absorption capacity, and distribution of impact energy occurs at high speed. Also as the length of bre increases, lower is the number of bre ends and the number of defects that those points can generate in the composite [23]. However, after an optimum length of bre only a small proportion of the bre will be pulled out of matrix compared to shorter lengths where bre pull out is the active fracture mechanism, thus leading to a small decrease in impact strength as observed by Uma Devi et al. [24]. In accordance with the above expectations, in banana/PF composites the impact strength increases with bre length up to 30 mm followed by a decrease. For glass bre reinforced resoles the impact strength decreases after 40 mm bre length.
Fig. 13. Variation of impact strength with bre length for banana bre and glass bre reinforced composites.

The relationship between bre loading and impact strength is shown in Fig. 14. In both banana bre composites and glass bre composites the impact strength of the composite is found to increase with weight fraction of bre. Sanadi et al. reported that the impact resistance of unidirectional sunhemp/polyester composites shows a linear increase with bre loading [3]. The impact strength of 40% glass bre reinforced resole is found to be 700% higher than pure resole. In the case of glass bre reinforced composites, frictional losses as bre is

Fig. 14. Variation of impact strength with bre loading for banana bre and glass bre reinforced composites.

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pulled out of the matrix are a major contributor to the observed toughness of the composite. This is due to the surface smoothness and regular cross section of these glass bres. In the case of natural bres such a mechanism is not favored due to the mechanical interlocking between bres and matrix. In banana bre composites a small decrease in impact strength, compared to neat resin occurs at lower bre loading and a good increase in impact strength is observed with a further increase in bre loading. SEM of the fracture surface of banana/PF composites containing 30% bre is shown in Figs. 15 and 16. Fig. 15 shows the poor interaction between glass and PF resole and in Fig. 16, the PF resin is penetrated into the natural bre surface. It is clear from gures that the banana bres adhere well to the PF matrix and undergo breaking and delamination during fracture, where as glass bres are easily pulled out from the matrix during the impact failure. 3.5. Theoretical modelling Several theories have been proposed to model the tensile properties of composite material in terms of different parameters. For determining the properties of randomly oriented bres in a rigid matrix, series and Hirschs model are useful. According to these models tensile strength is calculated using the following equations

Series Model Tc Tm Tf Tm Vf Tf Vm 2

Hirschs Model Tc xTm Vm Tf Vf 1 x Tm Tf Tm Vf Tf Vm 3

where Tc, Tm, and Tf are the tensile strength of the composite, matrix and the bre respectively. Vf and Vm are the volume fraction of bre and matrix, and x is a parameter between 0 and 1. It is reported that the parameter x in the above equation determines the stress transfer between the bre and matrix [25]. For calculations, the value of x was varied to obtain best-t values with experimental results. In banana/PF composites the value of x is found to be very much higher compared to glass/PF composites indicating eective stress transfer between banana bre and PF, due to the strong interaction between the two. Theoretical values of tensile strengths were calculated using the above models and is compared with the experimental values as in Figs. 17 and 18. In the case of series and Hirschs models it is found that the tensile strength increases regularly with increase in the volume fraction of bres. The agreement is better for banana

Fig. 15. Impact fracture surface of glass bre/PF composites (bre loading 30%).

Fig. 16. Impact-fracture surface of banana bre/PF composites (bre loading 30%).

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between the components depending on the chemical nature of the constituents. The interaction is higher in a banana/PF system as is evident from interfacial shear strength values of pull out tests. A good agreement is observed between the values obtained from Hirshs model and experimental values. Here a parameter x, which determines the stress transfer between the bre and matrix, is introduced and so an agreement is observed between the theoretical and experimental values.

4. Conclusions The results of the present study reveal that composites with good strength could be successfully developed using banana bre as the reinforcing agent. From single bre pull out tests, the interfacial shear strength (ISS) values are calculated for banana bre and glass bre. These values show that ISS is higher in banana bre embedded in PF than for glass bre in PF indicating a strong adhesion between the lignocellulosic banana bre and PF resoles. The tensile stressstrain behavior reveals that the neat PF is brittle. Addition of bres makes the matrix more ductile. The tensile, exural and impact properties of the composites are found to be dependent on bre length and optimum length of bre required to obtain banana/PF composites of maximum properties is found to be 30 mm for banana/PF composites and 40 mm for Glass/PF composites due to the variation in interfacial properties. Both banana bre and glass bre composites are found to have an increase in tensile, exural and impact properties with increasing bre loading. The banana/PF composites exhibit superior mechanical properties, which can be compared well with synthetic bres like glass in terms of specic properties and could be used as structural material. The experimentally obtained tensile strength values of banana bre composites are found to be comparable with Hirshs theoretical predictions

Fig. 17. Comparison of experimental and theoretical tensile strengths of glass bre reinforced phenolics.

References
Fig. 18. Comparison of experimental and theoretical tensile strengths of banana bre reinforced phenolics. [1] Sanadi AR, Prasad SV, Rohatgi PK. Journal of Scientic and Industrial Research 1985;44:437. [2] Roe PJ, Ansell MP. Jute reinforced polyester composites. J Mater Sci 1985;20:4015. [3] Sanadi AR, Prasad SV, Rohatgi PK. J Mater Sci 1986;21:81. [4] Heijenrath R, Peijs T. Advanced Compos Lett 1996;5(3):81. [5] Marchovich N, Reboredo M, Aranguren M. J Appl Poly Sci 1996;61:119. [6] Zarate CN, Aranguren MI, Reboredo MM. J Appl Poly Sci 2000;77:1832. [7] Pothen LA, Thomas S, Neelakandan NR. J Reinforced Plast Compos 1997;16:744. [8] Bledzki AK, Reihmaine S, Gassan J. J Appl Polym Sci 1996; 59:1329.

ber composites. In banana/PF and glass/PF systems the tensile strength values are found to be much dierent from those predicted by the series model. The deviation is higher in glass/PF systems. The deviations arise because the interaction between the components is not taken into consideration in the series model. According to this model the bre and matrix exist as two components without any adhesion. But in an actual composite system there is a chance of interaction

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