Mechanical Properties of Natural Fibre (Banana, Coir, Sisal) Polymer Composites
M.SAKTHIVEl 1 , S.RAMESH 2
1 Asst.Professor, Adhiyamaan College of Engineering, Hosur .
2 Professor, Sona College of Engineering, Salem
ABSTRACT Natural fibres have been used to reinforce materials for over 3000 years. More currently they have been employed in combination with plastics. Many types of natural fibres have been investigated for use in plastics including flax, hemp, jute, sisal and banana. Natural fibres have the advantage that they are renewable resources and have marketing appeal. These agricultural wastes can be used to prepare fibre reinforced polymer composites for commercial use. Application of composite materials to structures has presented the need for the engineering analysis the present work focuses on the fabrication of polymer matrix composites by using natural fibres like coir,banana and sisal which are abundant nature in desired shape by the help of various structures of paterns and calculating its material characteristics(flexural modulus, flexural rigidity, hardness number,% gain of water) by conducting tests like flexural test, hardness test, water absorption test, impact test, density test, and their results are measured on sections of the material and make use of the natural fibre reinforced polymer composite material for automotive seat shell manufacturing.
The interest in using natural fibres such as different plant fibres and wood fibres as reinforcement in plastics has increased dramatically during last few years. With regard to the surrounding aspects it would be very interesting if natural fibres could be used instead of glass fibres as reinforcement in some structural applications. Natural fibres have many advantages compared to glass fibres, for example they have low density, and they are recyclable and biodegradable. Additionally they are renewable raw materials and have relatively high strength and stiffness. Their low-density values allow producing composites that combine good mechanical properties with a low specific mass. In tropical countries fibrous plants are available in abundance. Fibre reinforced polymer composites have many applications as a class of structural materials because of their ease of fabrication, relatively low prize and higher mechanical properties compared to polymer resins. These composites are considered as replacements for metal materials where the association of metallic fibre with polymeric matrix is attractive material for electronic packaging applications. The combination of reinforcement with high thermal conductivity embedded in a resin matrix with low thermal conductivity is desirable to dissipating the heat flux for electronic packaging components. Studies on the mechanical properties of short fibre reinforced polymer composites have shown that both fibre length distribution and fibre orientation distribution play very important role in determining the mechanical properties. Natural fiber composites combine plant- derived fibers with a plastic binder. The natural fiber components may be wood, sisal, hemp, coconut, thread, kenaf, flax, jute, abaca, banana leaf fibers, Bamboo, wheat straw or other fibrous material. The advantages of natural fiber composites include lightweight, low-energy production, and environmental friendly. The use of natural fibers reduces weight by 10% and lowers the energy needed for production by 80%, while the cost of the component is 5% lower than the comparable fiber glass-reinforced component. In the past, composites of coconut fiber/natural rubber latex were extensively used by the automotive industry. How-ever, during the seventies and eighties, newly developed synthetic
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fibers due to better performance gradually substituted cellulose fibers. There has been a renewed interest in using these fibers as reinforcement materials, to some extent in the plastic industry. This resurgence of interest may be attributed to the increasing cost of plastics and the environmental aspects associated with using renewable and biodegradable materials. Sisal fibre is fairly coarse and unsuitable . It has godly ability, durability, strength to stretch, affinity for certain dyestuffs and resistance to regress in seawater. Sisal ropes and twines are widely used for marine, agronomic, transport and general industrial use. Banana fibre at present is a waste product of banana cultivation. Hence, without any including cost input, banana fibre can be obtained for industrial purposes. Banana fibre is found to be good reinforcement in polyester resin. The properties of the composites are strongly influenced by the fibre length.
2. METHODOLOGY 2.1 NATURAL FIBRE PREPARATION Here discontinuous fibre is used for fabricate the natural fibre composites. First the natural fibres are cleaned in the distilled water. The cleaned natural fibres are dried in the sun light. The dried natural fibres are again cleaned by chemical cleaning process. In chemical cleaning process the 80% sodium hydroxide is mixed with 20% distilled water. The dried natural fibres dipped in the diluted sodium hydroxide solution. Its again dried in sun light .The dried natural fibres are cut in the length of 2 mm by EDM machine. The cut natural fibres are used in fabricate the natural fibre composites.
2.2 PATTERN
The pattern is designed by as per ASTM standard. The pattern is made up of mild steel. The pattern Size is 235 x 85 x 15 mm (ASTM D37-08) The pattern consist of three parts Base Plate Frame Lid The Base plate is very thin plate which is placed inside the inning. The Lid is placed on the top of the inning. The main purpose of the lid is applied the evenly distributed load on the mixture which is filled in the pattern.
Fig 2.1 Pattern 2.3 REQUIREMENTS FOR FABRICATE NATURAL FIBRE COMPOSITES Epoxy resin Hardener Natural Fibre Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) Weighing Machine Roller Bowl Stirrer 2.4 MOULD PREPARATION In mould preparation the resin is mixed with hardener in the ratio of 4:1. The mixer is strewed with stirrer for 15 minutes continuously
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2.5 FABRICATION PROCESS Fig 2.2 Fabrication approach
Fig 2.3 fibre alignment Here Hand Laminating Molding is used for fabricate the natural FIBRE composites. The base plate is fixed inside the frame For fabricate the natural fibre composites 70% of rein hardener mixture and remaining natural fibres are used. The mixed resin and hardener is filled in the pattern. The prepared natural fibres are randomly poured in the resin hardener mixture without any gap. The roller is rolled in the mould. Again the mould is filled in pattern by next layer and fibres poured randomly .This process is simultaneously done till the height of the mould 10mm.The lid is fixed on the top of the frame for distribute the load evenly on the mould. The setup is kept in the dry place for 24 hours. After 24hours the mould is take away from the pattern, finally the natural fibre composite is fabricated. Fig 2.4 Hand Laminating Method
The main objective is to determine the material properties (Flexural modulus, flexural rigidity, Hardness number, % gain of water, density, Impact Strength) of natural FIBRE reinforced composite material by conducting the following respective tests. Flexural test Hardness Test Water absorption Test Density Test Impact Test
3.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 FLEXURAL TEST RESULT
The flexural test measures the force required to bend a beam under three point loading situations. The data is often used to select elements for parts that will support loads without inflection. Flexural modulus is used as an indication of a materials stiffness when inflection. Since the physical properties of many elements (especially thermoplastics) can vary depending on
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ambient temperature, it is appropriate to test materials at temperatures that simulate the intended end use environment.
3.1.1 FORMULA USED
E =
N/mm 2
E I =
N-mm 2
I =
E Modulus of elasticity E I Flexural Rigidity y- Deflection in mm F- load in N
3.1.2 MODEL CALCULATION
E = y =0.75 mm I =
L =200 mm B =80 mm y =H/2 H =10 mm y =5 mm from natural Axis I = I =6666.67 mm 4
E =
E =2043.67 N/mm 2
EI =
N-mm 2
=
EI =13.624 x 10 6 N-mm 2
Table 3.1.1 Polymer Coir Matrix Composites
Table 3.1.2 Polymer Sisal Matrix Composites
S.No Proving Reading Division Load F In Deflection Y in mm Modulus of Elasticity E in N/mm 2
2710.66 18.07X10 6 S.No Proving Reading Division Load F In Deflection Y in mm Modulus of Elasticity E in N/mm 2
Flexural Rigidity EI in N- mm 2
Kg
N 1 1 6.25 61.31 1.93 1551.11 10.34X10 6
2 2 12.5 122.625 5.55 1078.79 7.19X10 6
3 3 18.75 183.94 9.75 921.12 6.14X10 6
Average 1183.67 7.89X10 6
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3.2 HARDNESS TEST RESULTS The Rockwell hardness number represents the additional depth to which a test ball or sphere- conical penetrator is driven by a heavy (major) load beyond the depth of a previously applied light (minor) load. Top hardness numbers that are obtained from hard materials indicate a shallow indentation while low numbers found with soft materials indicate deep indentation. The increment of penetration depth for each point of hardness on the Rockwell mount is 0.00008 inch. For example, if a piece of steel measures Rockwell C 58 (extremely hard) at same point and C 55 at another, the depth of penetration would have been 0.00024 inch deeper at the softer spot.
Table 3.2.1 Tabulated Readings of Rockwell Hardness Number S.No Polymer matrix composite Indenter used Load in Kg RHN 1 Coir
Diamond Indenter
150 36HRC 2 Banana 63HRC 3 Sisal 54HRC 4 Coir
1/16 Ball Indenter
100 76HRC 5 Banana 57HRC 6 Sisal 92HRC
3.3 WATER ABSORPTION TEST RESULT Water absorption is used to determine the amount of water absorbed under specified conditions. Factors affecting water absorption include: type of plastic, additives used, temperature and length of exposure. The data sheds light on the performance of materials in humid.
Table 3.3.1 Water Absorption Test result Polymer matrix composite material Mass before test (g) Mass after test (g) (%) gain of water COIR 9.141 9.150 0.09 BANANA 7.815 7.823 0.10 SISAL 7.531 7.535 0.05
3.4 Density Test result Density is the term used to describe the relationship between the weight of the substance and its size.
Density is a physical property of every substance, and different substances have different densities. Density can be measured in a variety of units, including grams per centimeter and pounds per cubic foot.
S.No Proving Reading Division Load F In Deflection Y in mm Modulus of Elasticity E in N/mm 2
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Table 3.4.1 Density Test result Polymer matrix composite material Mass(m) (Kg) Volume(v) (10 -4 m 3 ) Density(), m/v (Kg/m 3 ) COIR 0.386 2.99625 1288 BANANA 0.330 2.99625 1101 SISAL 0.346 2.99625 1155
3.5. IMPACT TEST RESULT The Charpy impact test, also known as the Charpy V-notch test, is a standardized high strain- rate test which determines the amount of energy absorbed by a material during fracture. This absorbed energy is a measure of a given material's toughness and acts as a tool to study temperature-dependent ductile-brittle transition. It is widely applied in industry, since it is easy to prepare and conduct and results can be obtained quickly and cheaply.
4.12 Charpy Impact Test Result Sample Polymer matrix composite material Impact Energy in Scale(J oule) 1 COIR 4 2 BANANA 5 3 SISAL 4
4. CONCLUSIONS A Polymer matrix composite contains the various natural fibres as the reinforcement phase was successfully fabricated .The material properties of fabricated natural fibre reinforced composites were observed. It is found that polymer banana reinforced natural composites is the best natural composites among the various combination. It can be used for manufacturing of automotive seat shells among the other natural fibre combinations. 5. REFERENCES
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