Few investigations have been carried out with bamboo fibers despite its high strength, biodegradability, and low cost. The overall objective of this work was to investigate fiber extraction from bamboo and the use of these bamboo fibers as reinforcement in polymeric composites. A combination of chemical and mechanical methods was used for the extraction of bamboo fibers. Conventional methods of compression molding technique (CMT) and roller mill technique (RMT) were explored for the mechanical separation. Fiber population from both the techniques were characterized. Mechanical properties of the fibers also were evaluated. Bamboo fibers obtained from CMT and RMT were used to make unidirectional composites of polyester. High values of tensile strength were observed in all the composites. The predominant mode of failure for the composite was shown to be the cracking of the fiber-matrix interface. Quantitative results from this study will be useful for further and more accurate design of bamboo reinforced composite materials.

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Fatigue in any material is a result of continuous irreversible degradation process. Traditionally, fatigue life is predicted by extrapolating experimentally curve fitted empirical models. In the current study, unified mechanics theory is used to predict life of Ti-6Al-4V under monotonic tensile, compressive and cyclic load conditions. The unified mechanics theory is used to derive a constitutive model for fatigue life prediction using a three-dimensional computational model. The proposed analytical and computational models have been used to predict the low cycle fatigue life of Ti-6Al-4V alloys. It is shown that the unified mechanics theory can be used to predict fatigue life of Ti-6Al-4V alloys by using simple predictive models that are based on fundamental equation of the material, which is based on thermodynamics associated with degradation of materials.