Composites Science and Technology 72 (2012) 11831190

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Composites Science and Technology

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Tensile and exural properties of snake grass natural ber reinforced

isophthallic polyester composites
T.P. Sathishkumar a,, P. Navaneethakrishnan a, S. Shankar b
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Erode, Tamilnadu, India
b
Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Erode, Tamilnadu, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Natural ber composite materials are one such capable material which replaces the conventional and
Received 5 August 2011 synthetic materials for the practical applications where we require less weight and energy conservation.
Received in revised form 26 March 2012 The present paper, which emphasis the importance of the newly identied snake grass bers which are
Accepted 1 April 2012
extracted from snake grass plants by manual process. In this paper, the tensile properties of the snake
Available online 6 April 2012
grass ber are studied and compared with the traditionally available other natural bers. The mixed
chopped snake grass ber reinforced composite is prepared by using the isophthallic polyester resin
Keywords:
and the detailed preparation methodology is presented. Fiber pull-outs on the fractured specimen during
A. Fibers
A. Polymermatrix composites
the physical testing of the composites are also investigated. The experimental evidence also shows that
B. Mechanical properties the volume fraction increases the tensile, exural strength and modulus of the snake grass ber reinforce
D. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) composite.
Snake grass ber 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Global market is promptly moving towards the energy conser-
vation and energy reduction process. Generally the natural bers
were frequently used to reduce the weight of the components
i.e. the bers are reinforced with the suitable matrix. In the aspect
of cost, renewable and biodegradability, the natural plant bers
have plenty of advantages when compare to the synthetic bers.
Several authors carried out their research in the area of natural -
bers. Athijayamania et al. [1] extracted the roselle and sisal bers
by simple manual water treatment process. The experimental ten-
sile and exural strength results were compared with the hirsch
theoretical model. Later, Bakare et al. [2] studied the mechanical
properties of the sisal ber rubber seed oil polyurethane compos-
ite, with and with-out water treatment process. Cao and Wu [3]
followed the weibull distribution to nd out the optimum strength
of the bamboo ber with the KS test. Gonzalez and Ansell [4]
suggested that the mechanical properties of chemically treated
henequen ber epoxy composite produces similar results as like
the untreated ber composite. Silva et al. [5] investigated the
tensile properties of the sisal ber for the different ber gauge
length. Herrera-Franco and Valadez-Gonzalez [6] concluded that
the stress distribution between the bers and matrix for a short
discontinuous ber were better than the continuous bers. The
importance of the short ber composites was also discussed. Bos
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: tpsathish@kongu.ac.in (T.P. Sathishkumar).
et al. [7] suggested that the tensile strength of ax ber bundles
were strongly depends on the clamping length. The compressive
properties were obtained by the loop test with the decortication
process. Kuruvilla et al. [8] also worked on the natural ber rein-
forced composite. The tensile strength and modulus of the longitu-
dinal and random orientated ber composite were studied and
compared. Igor et al. [9] investigated the importance of phormium
(ax ber)/epoxy laminated composite with short ber and long -
ber. Various chemical compositions of the bers were compared
with the other natural bers. Jayabal and Natarajan [10] analyzed
the tensile, exural and impact properties of the non woven coir -
ber reinforced composites with various ber lengths and ber con-
tents. The results were used to generate a nonlinear quadratic
regression model and optimized the ber length and ber content
using a commercially available statistical tool.
Mathur [11] prepared the sisal, jute and coir ber reinforced
composites with unsaturated polyester/epoxy resin. Murali Mohan
Rao et al. [12] extracted and processed the newly identied
elephant grass ber by manual and chemical methods. They ob-
served that the chemically extracted bers have higher tensile
strength than the raw bers but the difference between those val-
ues was very less. Murali Mohan Rao and Mohan Rao [13] also
processed the vakka bers from the foliage tree of sheath leaves
by simple manual method. The result shows that the percentage
of moisture absorption was higher in vakka ber than the date
and bamboo ber. Obi Reddy et al. [14] prepared the composites
by using the leaf sheath of the coconut tree and studied its
signicance with and without chemical treatment process. Rakesh

0266-3538/$ - see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compscitech.2012.04.001
1184 T.P. Sathishkumar et al. / Composites Science and Technology 72 (2012) 11831190

et al. [15] investigated the strength of the banana ber reinforced effects of the long and discontinuous ber reinforced polypropyl-
composites with the help of soy protein resin. They concluded that ene bio-composites by utilizing the compressive mold. The theo-
the mechanical properties of the composites were strongly retical model values for the kenaf and jute ber composites were
depends on the ber volume fraction. Rigoberto et al. [16] investi- also compared. Satyanarayana et al. [22] compared the physical
gated the signicance of the natural ber composites by making it and chemical properties of the various natural bers. These bers
as a housing panel. Random orientation technique was adopted to were reinforced with the polymer and epoxy resin composites.
archive the isotropic behavior of the nature ber reinforced com- The cotton/ polymer and jute/epoxy/polymer composites were
posites. Sergio et al. [17] suggested that the different interior and prepared and its signicance was reported. Sreenivasan et al.
exterior components of the automobiles can be replaced with the [23] investigated the tensile, exural and impact properties of
help of natural ber reinforced composites. Shinji et al. [18] also randomly oriented short Sansevieria cylindrica ber/polyester
investigated the mechanical properties of kenaf natural bers. (SCFP) composites.
Xue and Lope [19] observed that the structural stability and adhe- Most of the previous literatures presented the signicance of
sion properties in the reinforced composite were improved by newly developed bers that have used to prepare the composites
adopting the various chemical treatment processes. Kiruthika and and also optimized the ber length, volume and weight fractions.
Veluraja [20] analyzed the tensile strength of the various banana The bers were randomly orientated during the composite prepa-
plant bers and compared the results with and with out chemical ration. In this paper, one such natural ber is extracted from the
treatment processes. Byoung-Ho et al. [21] briey investigated the naturally available plants; the properties of the prepared materials
are tested and compared with the other existing natural bers as
shown in Table 1. Snake grass bers are the newly identied ber
which is extracted from the snake grass plants (Sansevieria ehren-
Table 1
Comparison of the tensile properties of snake grass ber with other natural bers. bergii) by simple manual and biodegradable treatment. The snake
grass is a new plant in brous form and it is abundantly available
Fiber name Density Diameter Tensile Tensile % Elongation
in southern part of the INDIA. This work is also extended to fabri-
(kg/m3) (lm) strength modulus
(MPa) (GPa) cate the reinforced composite using the polyester resin to study its
mechanical properties.
Cotton 1600 287597 5.512.6 310
[19,22]
Ramie [19] 1500 220938 44128 23
2. Experiments
Flax [7,19] 1500 345 27.680 1.23.2
1500
Hemp [19] 1480 550900 70 1.6 2.1. Fiber materials
Jute [19,12] 1460 393800 1030 1.51.8
Sisal 1450 50300 227400 920 214 The length of the snake grass plants that grown in the eld
[5,8,12]
ranges from 30 cm to 120 cm. The actual processing of bers from
Pineapple 1440 2080 413 34.5 0.81
leaf [22] 1627 82.5 the snake grass natural plants is shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 1 shows the
Kenaf [21] 1400 81 250 4.3 plucking of snake grass plant and the sand are removed by water.
Banana 1350 80250 529759 8.20 13.5 The external green layers of the plants (stamp) are removed. After
[12,15]
which the plants are immersed in water for four consecutive days
Coir [12] 1150 100460 108252 46 1540
Root [22] 1150 100650 157 6.2 3
to remove the primary and secondary walls of the plants by biode-
Palymyrah 1090 701300 180215 7.4604 715 gradable process which will be useful to extract the bers contin-
[22] uously from the plant without any damage. The untreated snake
Date [13] 990 309 11.32 2.73 grass ber is then cut into different lengths for preparing the spec-
Bamboo 910 503 35.91 1.4
imens of composites i.e. the length used for preparing the compos-
[13]
Talipot [22] 890 200700 143294 9.313.3 2.75 ite varies from 10 mm, 30 mm, 60 mm, 90 mm, 120 mm and
Snake grass 887 45250 278.82 9.71 2.87 150 mm respectively.
Elephant 817 70400 185 7.4 2.5
grass
[12] 2.2. Polyester resin
Petiole bark 690 250650 185 15. 2.1
[22] Commercially available isophthallic unsaturated polyester resin
Spatha [22] 690 150400 75.6 3.1 6
is used for the investigation. Accelerator (Methyl Ethyl Ketone
Rachilla 650 200400 61 2.8 8.1
[22]
Peroxide) and the catalyst (Cobalt Naphthalene) are used to cure
Rachis [22] 610 350408 73 2.5 13.5 the resin. Thermoset isiophthallic polyester resin is one of the
Coconut 119.8 18 5.5 economical resins when compare to other resins due to its very
tree leaf low water absorbing capability and excellent bonding tendency
sheath
as well as mechanical properties. The distinctive properties of the
[14]
Red banana 482567 30.6 isophthallic polyester resin are shown in Table 2.
[20]
Nendran 407505 28.3
2.3. Preparation of the composite specimen
banana
[20]
Rasthaly 304388 27.8 After 4 days, the extracted snake grass bers is taken out from
banana the water, then the water content present inside of the ber is re-
[20]
moved by keeping it in natural air for 8 h. Then the bers are kept
Morris 222282 24.2
banana
in the hot air oven for 60 min at 160 C [18]. The dried bers are
[20] then chopped into various lengths as mentioned earlier to prepare
Poovan 144206 21.8 the composites. The simple hand lay-up technique is adapted to
banana prepare the composite specimen with various volume fractions
[20]
(Vf) like 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% and 30% respectively. One percent of
 T.P. Sathishkumar et al. / Composites Science and Technology 72 (2012) 11831190
Fig. 1. (a) Snake grass ber plants, (b) plucking of snake grass ber plants, (c) removing the sand by water and (d) ber collection.
Table 2
Properties of the isophthallic polyester resin.
S. No Properties Unit
1 Specic gravity
2 Density kg/m3
3 Tensile strength MPa
4 Tensile modulus GPa
5 Compressive strength MPa
6 Flexural strength MPa
7 Flexural modulus GPa
8 Shrinkage % 0.0040.008
catalyst and one percent of accelerator is used to cure the
isophthallic polyester resin. Steel dies are designed to prepare
the composite specimens. Initially the releasing agent is coated
over the male and female section of the die for easy removal of
the specimens after the solidication process. The surfaces are then
allowed to dry for 15 min, and the bers are spread over the die.
Fiber orientation and uniformity in the composites are maintained
by the rolling process using steel rollers to achieve the maximum
isotropic material property and almost all the air bubbles are re-
moved by the continuous rolling process. At the time of curing,
the closed mould is kept on the hydraulic press and a compressive
pressure is applied for 8 h at atmospheric temperature. Finally the
bers are reinforced with the polyester resin within the mould cav-
ity of dimensions 230 mm  200 mm  4 mm to prepare the re-
quired composite plate. After solidication process, the
composite plate is then post-cured for one hour in oven.
2.4. Analysis
2.4.1. Tensile testing of a single ber
The tensile properties of the long continuous snake grass ber
were measured by a single ber tensile testing method according
to the ASTM D3379-75 [12] standards using the Instron Universal
Testing machine. The gauge length of each ber was taken as
100 mm and a 1000 g load cell was used for the testing. The cross
head speed of the grippers was 5 mm/min and the same speed was
1185
used through out the testing. Twenty-ve samples were tested in
this work and the average value of the tensile strength; tensile
modulus and elongation at the failure/break were obtained. The
Range
density of the ber was evaluated using the meltbertoledoxsz05
1.11.46
balances method.
1125
18
0.81.1
90250 2.4.2. Tensile testing of the composite
30
Tensile tests were conducted for the composite specimen using
1.21.5
the electronic tensometer setup to obtain the tensile properties.
The dog-bone specimens of the composites were prepared accord-
ing to the ASTM D 638 [10] standards. The specimens were
machined to a standard size of 165 mm  13 mm  4 mm for a
gauge length of 50 mm. For this testing, the load cell of 5 kN was
utilized in the tensometer with the same cross head speed of
1 mm/min [9,18]. Five identical test specimens were used for each
testing and numbered in series as T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5. Properties
such as tensile strength, tensile (elastic) modulus, tensile load and
elongation at break of the composites were measured from the
experimentation. During tensile testing, the specimens were bro-
ken in between the gauge length of the specimen and the corre-
sponding image was shown in Fig. 2.
Fig. 2. Tensile tested specimens.
1186 T.P. Sathishkumar et al. / Composites Science and Technology 72 (2012) 11831190
Fig. 3. Flexural tested specimens.
2.4.3. Flexural testing of the composite
Three point exural testing were conducted according to the
ASTM D 790 [10] standards using the spring mass testing machine.
The specimens were machined for the dimensions of 125 mm  12
mm  4 mm. The span to the depth ratio of the specimens was
considered as 16:1. For this testing, the load cell of 6 kN was uti-
lized with the cross head speed of 2.5 mm/min [18]. Five identical
test specimens were prepared and numbered as F1, F2, F3, F4 and
F5 for each exural testing. Deections of the specimen were mea-
sured using the digital dial gauge and the exural properties like
exural strength, exural modulus, exural load and deection at
break of the composites were evaluated. As similar to the tensile
testing, the ve identical specimens were broken in between the
gauge length and the corresponding image was shown in Fig. 3.
2.4.4. Scanning Electron Microscope
The micro structural failures of the tensile and exural fracture
composite were studied and analyzed using the cross section anal-
yses method through the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) of
model JEOL JSM-6390. The following specications were used for
scanning the image: (a) Resolution (3.0 nm (Acc V 30 kV, WD
8 mm, and SEI), (b) Magnication (5 (WD 48 mm or less) and
(c) Electron gun (Accelerating voltage: 0.530 kV and Filament:
Pre-Centered tungsten hairpin lament).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Mechanical properties of the snake grass ber
The raw single snake grass bers of gauge length of 100 mm were
taken for the tensile testing. Multiple laments in the bers were re-
moved and tested with out any surface modication process. The
tensile strength of the ber was obtained by the ratio of average load
to the average area for the twenty-ve identical samples. The tensile
properties of the snake grass ber with the various available natural
bers were compared and shown in Table 1. The diameter of the -
ber was varied from 45 lm to 250 lm. Density is one of the impor-
tant parameter for designing any light weighted materials. From the
table, it was very clear that the density of the snake grass ber was
very less when compared to the other natural bers but it was mar-
ginally higher than the elephant grass, petiole bark, spatha rachilla
and rachis bers. The average tensile strength of snake grass ber
was better than the elephant grass, kenaf, root, coir bers, petiole
bark, spatha rachilla and rachis bers and also equal to the sisal
and closer to the date and bamboo. The percentage elongation at
break was little higher than the elephant grass, petiole bark, pineap-
ple leaf, date and bamboo and equal to the ex, banana, hemp and
jute. From the available properties, it is evident that the snake grass
ber is one among the future alternative of any natural bers.
3.2. Effect of tensile properties of the snake grass natural ber
reinforced composites
The tensile properties of the snake grass chopped ber rein-
forced composites are compared with the various ber volume
fractions for various ber lengths. Fig. 4 shows the variation of ten-
sile strength over the percentage increase in ber volume fractions
for the various ber lengths. The tensile strength decreases from
20.15 MPa to 17.25 MPa when the ber length is increased from
10 mm to 150 mm for 10% Vf. For 10% Vf, the ber accumulation
is very less in the composite, so the percentage increase between
the maximum and minimum tensile strength for the present case
is almost 16.8%. Similar decreasing trend in the tensile strength
is visible for other cases up to 25% Vf. The percentage increase
between the maximum and minimum tensile strength for 15% Vf
is 11.85%. This percentage was reduced when compare to 10%
Vf is due to the more accumulation of ber in the composite. Sim-
ilarly the improvement percentage between the maximum and
minimum tensile strength was further reduced to 10.37% for 20%
Vf. Maximum tensile strength of 35.89 MPa is obtained for
30 mm ber length in the present work when the percentage vol-
ume fraction is 25. The percentage improvement between the
maximum and minimum tensile strength for 25% Vf is 11.49%. This
percentage is increased when compared to the previous 20% Vf. Be-
cause in the composite, the ber accumulation is more and also
30 mm bers having higher ber ends than the 150 mm. The ber
ends plays an important roll and it is one of the main factor which
affects the tensile strength. The tensile strength is suddenly
reduced to 14.0211.85 MPa for various ber lengths when the
percentage volume fraction is 30. From the results, it is inferred
that the load and stress transfer between the ber and the matrix
is highly reduced due to the less matrix content in composite
which is also the main reason for the reduction in tensile strength.
The maximum tensile strength of the composite lies in between
30 mm and 60 mm of the ber length. The percentage of improve-
ment from 10% Vf to 25% Vf for 30 mm and 60 mm ber lengths are
44.99% and 43.66% respectively. It is absorbed that the tensile
strength of the composite increases with the increase in ber con-
tent. Hence a good load transfer is visible in between the bers and
the matrix. Further increase in the ber length and volume fraction
highly reduces the tensile strength and load transfers between the
bers and matrix which cannot be a signicant one for any
applications.
Fig. 5 shows the tensile stressstrain curves for the various ber
volume fractions at 30 mm ber length. The stressstrain curve for
the cure polyester resin is similar to the brittle materials [22,23].
Then the addition of bers in the polyester resin which converts
40
35
Tensile Strength (MPa)
30
25
1
20
10mm 30mm
15
60mm 90mm
120mm 150mm
10
10 15 20 25 30
Volume fraction of snake grass fiber (%)
Fig. 4. Effect of tensile strength verses volume fraction of snake grass ber with
different ber lengths.
 T.P. Sathishkumar et al. / Composites Science and Technology 72 (2012) 11831190
Fig. 5. Tensile stress and tensile strain curve for various ber volume fractions at
30 mm ber length.
500
450
Tensile Modulus (MPa)
400
350
300
250 10mm 30mm
60mm 90mm
200 120mm 150mm
150
10 15 20 25 30
Volume fraction of fiber (%)
Fig. 6. Effect of tensile modulus verses volume fraction of snake grass ber with
different ber lengths.
the brittleness to the ductile nature as indicated in the stress
strain curve. The elongation at break in the cure resin is lesser than
the composite specimens. The maximum stress is found at 25% Vf
with increase in strain values. When the volume fraction is
increased to 25% then the stressstrain curve is more or similar
in nature, so the optimum ber volume fraction is accounted as
25%. Youngs modulus of the specimens is calculated with the cor-
responding machine compliances i.e. by considering the elastic
portion of the stressstrain curve. From Fig. 5, it is also clear that
for any given strain level, the stress is increased with the ber
length up to 30 mm and then decreased indicating a critical ber
length of 30 mm for short snake grass ber reinforced composites.
The lowering of stress values at higher ber lengths can be attrib-
uted to the ber entanglements formed at higher lengths [23]. In
Fig. 6 shows the variation in the tensile modulus values over the
volume fraction for the various ber lengths of snake grass ber
composites. For 10% Vf, composites have maximum tensile modu-
lus of 336.93 MPa when the ber length is 10 mm and the mini-
mum tensile modulus of 287.02 MPa for 150 mm ber length.
Similarly, the tensile modulus value gradually increases when
the volume fraction increases up to 25%. For 15% Vf, composites
have maximum tensile modulus of 379.06 MPa and when Vf is
20% the maximum tensile modulus is increased to 421.81 MPa.
The maximum tensile modulus for the entire experimentation is
481.75 MPa for 25% Vf. It is clearly visible that there is a marginal
amount of change in tensile modulus value for any constant vol-
ume fraction when the ber length gets altered. When the volume
fraction is 30%, the maximum tensile modulus is decreased to
1187
85
10mm 30mm
75 60mm 90mm
Flexural Strength (MPa)
120mm 150mm
65
55
45
35
25
10 15 20 25 30
Volume fraction of snake grass fiber (%)
Fig. 7. Effect of exural strength verses volume fraction of snake grass ber with
different ber lengths.
215.11 MPa when the ber length is 60 mm. When the ber length
is increased beyond a limit, then the tensile modulus value gets de-
creased. This shows that the ber length has inuential effect in
setting the tensile modulus value of any natural ber composites.
3.3. Effect of exural properties of snake grass natural ber reinforced
composites
The exural property is one of the important parameter in com-
posites mainly useful to quantify in structural applications. Fig. 7
shows the variations in the exural strength values over% increase
in volume fractions. It is observed that the exural strength values
are gradually increased up to 20% Vf. Beyond 20% Vf of ber in com-
posite, the exural strength is suddenly increased. Then the
increasing trend suddenly changes and the exural strength gets
drastically reduced when Vf of ber in composite is 30%. During
the composite preparation, if the ber content is more than 30%
Vf, it leads to insufcient lling of matrix into the surrounding
bers and it is one of the main reason for the incomplete compos-
ite. 10% Vf composite have the maximum exural strength of
33.45 MPa and it has signicant change of 12.01% when the ber
content is varied. The maximum exural strength is increased to
38.14 MPa when the %Vf is 15 and the exural strength is signi-
cantly varied by 6.87% depends on the ber content present in
the composite. The increasing trend of the exural strength value
continues as like in the previous cases up to the 25% Vf. 25% Vf com-
posite has the maximum exural strength of 75.29 MPa when the
ber length is 150 mm. The increasing trend suddenly decreases as
like in previous cases to 49.64 MPa when the %Vf of the ber in
composite is 30. The maximum exural strength of the composite
depends upon the length of the ber in the composite, in the pres-
ent case it lie in between 120 mm and 150 mm for 25% Vf. It is also
noted that the exural strength depends upon the ber content
and the ber length. From the extensive experimentation, it is evi-
dent that the maximum exural load is carried by the long ber
than the short ber.
Fig. 8 shows the variation in the exural modulus value over the
various volume fractions of snake grass ber composites. As like in
previous cases, the values of the exural modulus increases while
increasing the volume fraction. The increasing trend continues up
to 25% Vf of the composite, which have the maximum exural
modulus of 15.99GPa when the ber length is 150 mm. For a
constant volume fraction when the ber content changes, the vari-
ations in the exural modulus is clearly visible from the results.
Then the maximum exural modulus value is suddenly decreased
to 6.72 GPa when% Vf of the composite is 30. The observation
1188 T.P. Sathishkumar et al. / Composites Science and Technology 72 (2012) 11831190
Fig. 8. Effect of exural modulus verses volume fraction of snake grass ber with
different ber lengths.
concludes that the maximum exural modulus of the composite is
obtained at 25% Vf for the ber length of 150 mm. Compiling all the
results (Figs. 48), it is evident that the tensile strength, tensile
modulus, exural strength and exural modulus of isophthallic
polyester resin reinforced composite is gradually increased with
the amalgamation of chopped snake grass bers up to 25% Vf. At
25% volume fraction, ber reinforcement effect is one of the com-
petitive phenomena for the improvement of strength and modulus,
also the microcrack initiation is relatively high for the higher load-
ing of chopped bers. The tensile and exural modulus values have
increased extensively with the increasing in ber volume fraction.
It is observed that the strength of chopped ber reinforced com-
posite mainly depends on several factors like the ber strength
and modulus, ber length, density of ber and matrix, ber volume
fraction, ber weight content and the ber orientation. Among
these factors, the preparation of the composite should be consid-
ered into account with the ber volume fraction and ber orienta-
tion over the different ber lengths. In general, the chopped bers
have higher ends and aligned with higher degree of orientation in
the matrix resin. The applied load is directly observed by the ber,
it transfers the load from one end to the other end so it leads to in-
crease in the mechanical properties of the composite.
In general, natural bers have variable diameter along with its
ber length. Therefore it is a very difcult task to compare its
composite properties by any direct methods. Hence, the indirect
comparison used in this work is one of the simplest techniques
for the composite material preparation at corresponding volume
fraction with the similar type of reinforcement. It is one of the suf-
cient approach which gives useful information on understanding
a b
Fig. 9. SEM micrograph of tensile fractured specimen (a) 10% Vf and (b) 25% Vf.
the performances and potentials of the corresponding composite
materials.
4. Scanning Electron Microscope analysis
The fractured specimen from the tensile and exural testing of
the snake grass natural ber reinforced polyester composite is con-
sidered for the cross section analysis using Scanning Electron
Microscope. One half of the fractured dog-bone shaped specimen
is utilized for performing the SEM analysis.
4.1. SEM micrograph analysis of tensile fractured specimen
The SEM micrograph of the tensile fractured specimen of 10% Vf
is shown in Fig. 9a. Fiber pull-out is visible from the micrograph
and in particular, snake grass bers are found to be more broken
in that image. Also, the intra ber delamination is found to be more
predominant in snake grass bers. Fiber pull-out occurs mainly
due to the poor interfacial bonding at the interphase of the ber
and matrix. Interphase species the intersectional plane of the
ber and the matrix whose properties are studied by using
the SEM micrograph. It is found that the bers at the vicinity of
the loading region are more prone to damage. Strain values of
the ber at this region might have decreased and that leads to
the ber pull-out at this region. Due to the improper interfacial
bonding, a smaller amount of the delamination at the interphase
is found. It is evident from the micrograph that the adhesion area
between the ber and matrix is reasonably less, so the tensile
strength is also less in the composites.
Fig. 9b shows the SEM micrograph of tensile fractured 25% Vf
specimen. Interfacial delamination of the interphase is found to
be much higher than the 10% Vf specimen. Tensile strength values
have conrmed that the adhesion between the ber and matrix is
good and the ber pull-out is not so predominant. Strength at the
interphase of the ber and matrix is found to be higher due to the
breakage of the individual ber to the vicinity of the interphase at
the loading region. Due to the strong interphase, snake grass bers
have undergone individual ber breakage appreciably. At this vol-
ume fraction, intra ber delamination is not as frequent as the ber
breakage which is found to be dominant. Fiber wetting at this
volume fraction is higher when compare to the 10% Vf which leads
to the ber breakage and also the intra ber delamination. The
effective stress transfer between the ber and matrix is proven
due to the higher stress values. Altogether, the optimized strength
values of the 25% volume fraction of the composites have very
good interfacial properties, higher wetting, lesser ber pull-out
and poor intra ber delamination. This is due to the very less split-
ting of single ber in to brils. At 30% Vf, the interfacial bonding is
better due to the presence of more bers, but percentage ber and
matrix bonding is highly reduced and causes the reduction in the
 T.P. Sathishkumar et al. / Composites Science and Technology 72 (2012) 11831190
Fig. 10. SEM micrograph of the exural fractured specimen (a) 10% Vf and (b) 25% Vf.
mechanical properties. Hence plasticization of the primary wall of
ber facilitates the bonding ber and matrix.
4.2. SEM micrograph analysis of exural fractured specimen
Fig. 10a shows that the SEM micrograph of exural fractured
10% Vf specimen. Due to the exural load, the interphase delamina-
tion is found at the cross section of the composite. Due to the uni-
form compressive force applied during the manufacturing of the
composite specimen, presence of voids in the specimen is found
to be very minimal. Fiber pull-out is very much evident in the
micrograph, as the bonding between the ber and the matrix is
very weak. Due to the ber pull-out at the interphase, holes are
created because of the poor interfacial wetting. More pull-out is
observed in the compression region due to the higher stress con-
centration whereas in the tensile region, it is found to be very less.
Fibers have undergone the minimal breakage due to the predomi-
nance of ber pull-out. Individual ber delamination is not found
as so frequently in the composite, but rarely seen. Flexural strength
values indicate that the elongation is very minimal due to the poor
stress transfer between the ber and the matrix at the interphase
region of the composite.
Fig. 10b shows that the SEM micrograph of exural fractured
25Vf specimen. Fiber pull-out behavior of the composite occurs
rarely when compared to 10% Vf. This indicates that there is a good
interaction between the ber and matrix at the interphase. Stress
transfer between the reinforcement and the ber is appreciable
which is also evident from the exural strength values of 25% Vf
for 150 mm ber length. Fiber breakage occurs very frequently in
both tensile and compressive region due to the less ber pull-out
and higher ber accumulation leads to better adhesion at the inter-
phase region. Crater like structures in the image is found in the
micrograph of the specimen which is due to the curing of the ma-
trix under the action of catalyst and accelerator. Due to the mini-
mal ber pull-out in the composite, the ber breakage is high
and the individual ber delamination is also predominant due to
the same reason.
Loading region consists of the concentration of the bers which
is dominant for the ber breakage and it have justied the higher
exural strength and modulus values and less agglomeration of -
ber in the composite. Traces of thin layer of resin are found to be
coated over the ber surface which shows the better adhesion be-
tween the ber and the matrix. Less impurities in the ber surface,
smooth ber walls are the most probable reasons for the less var-
iation in the mechanical properties. Considering all the factors, that
the optimized strength values for 25% Vf of snake ber composites
which have good interfacial properties, higher wetting, lesser ber
pull-out and poor intra ber delamination.
1189
5. Conclusions
Convincingly, the present work clearly shows that the snake
grass ber will become a future alternative for the conventional
materials due to its enhanced mechanical properties and availabil-
ity. The following conclusions are made based on the extensive
experimental study
1. The tensile strength and tensile modulus of the snake grass
ber is higher and equal to the other natural bers. The density
of the snake grass ber is very less compared to all other bers.
2. The tensile and exural properties of the snake grass ber
isophthallic polyester composite are signicantly improved
with the various ber volume fraction and ber length. It is
found that the increase in the ber volume fraction increases
the tensile strengths and tensile modulus. The maximum ten-
sile strength and modulus of the chopped ber isophthallic
polyester composite is achieved at 25% Vf for the 30 mm ber
length. In general, the short bers have higher strength and
higher ber ends which is accumulated in the composite.
3. The maximum exural strength and modulus of the chopped
ber isophthallic polyester composite is achieved at 25% Vf for
120 mm and 150 mm ber lengths. But the values have signi-
cant improvement in 150 mm.
4. The SEM micrograph of tensile and exural tested specimens
predicts the ber failure, matrix crack and bers pull out during
the loading condition at 10% Vf and 25% Vf of the composite. At
higher strength, the volume fraction composite has less ber
pull out due to the more accumulation of ber being wetted
in matrix and also it transfers higher load.
Overall, it can be concluded that the 25% volume fraction of the
snake grass bers composite have the maximum mechanical prop-
erties. While manufacturing the composite specimens, the ber
length plays an important role. The snake grass bers can be
extracted with less cost and the composites can be made by simply
manual method.
Acknowledgements
Authors kindly acknowledge the Karunya University Coimba-
tore and SITRA Coimbatore for providing the necessary facilities
to carry out the research.
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