The aim of this study is to develop a completely sustainable, biodegradable, eco-friendly and green composite material for packaging of food and medical products by an additive manufacturing technique such as 3D printing. This report presents the mechanical, crystalline, chemical bonding and thermal characteristics of a novel pineapple leaf fiber (PALF) reinforcing polylactic acid (PLA) green composite manufactured by 3D printing technique. Both powdered raw and alkali-treated PALFs were respectively mixed with PLA and extruded as filaments for 3D printing into composite test specimens. The characterization study reveals that the 3D printed composite with 3 wt% (alkalitreated) PALF reinforcement exhibited maximum tensile and flexural characteristics. The density of the 3D printed composite specimens increased with increase in wt% of PALF. On the other hand, the 3D printed composite specimens blended with raw PALF showed enhanced elongation at break compared to alkali-treated PALF reinforced composite specimens. The microstructural images of the 3D printed composite specimens confirms the existence of impurities, voids and fiber degradation phenomenon. The Fourier transform infrared spectra revealed the chemical bonding nature of the 3D printed composite specimens. The X-Ray diffraction was used to calculate the crystalline size and crystallinity index. Thermogravimetric analysis reveals that the 3D printed composite specimen possessed adequate thermal stability for use in packaging applications.
Synthetic fibers as reinforcement in composites are inevitable in today's composite industry due to its exceptional mechanical properties. The objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of stacking sequence of carbon, glass and Kevlar bidirectional (0 /90 ) woven mat synthetic fibers reinforced in epoxy matrix composite with silicon carbide (SiC) nanoparticles as filler material on mechanical and visco-elastic behavior of developed novel hybrid polymer matrix composites (HPMCs). Vacuum bag infusion method is adopted to manufacture the composite specimens by stacking carbon, glass and Kevlar fibers alternatively with six layers and six different stacking sequences and tested as per ASTM standards. Tensile, flexural, impact and hardness test is conducted to identify the composite specimen with maximum mechanical characteristics. The maximum tensile and flexural strength of 398.178 and 671.25 MPa respectively is seen for the composite with strong fibers such as carbon and glass stacked away from the neutral axis. Also, the scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of tensile and flexural failure specimen revealed the failure mechanisms of developed composite specimens. Moreover, the dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) revealed the visco-elastic behavior of developed composites with glass transition temperature (T g ) at 115 C. This study emphasizes the influence of stacking sequence on thermo-mechanical properties of the developed HPMC specimens and explores its potential for diverse applications.
The present work aims to investigate the potentiality of reinforcing coconut tree peduncle fiber an agro-waste with unsaturated polyester resin, optimizing its mechanical properties and promote as an alternative reinforcement to harmful synthetic fiber polymer composites. It was found that polymer composites with 40 wt% fiber content exhibited maximum mechanical properties and started to decline on further addition of fibers due to lack of sufficient resin to wet the fibers leading to fiber pull-out and debonding under applied loads. This was also evidenced from the observed micrograph of specimen undergone tensile failure.In addition, the chemical bonding between the fiber and matrix was confirmed through Fourier transform infrared analysis. Also, the thermal stability was ascertained by the degradation temperature obtained through thermo-gravimetric analysis. Moreover, the water absorption study in fresh and seawater exposed the pseudo-Fickian behavior and aquatic properties of the developed composite, which was further confirmed by the crystalline size obtained through X-ray diffraction analysis. The above holistic analysis of the fabricated composite ensures its sustainable use in automotive and marine industries.
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