The natural fiber–reinforced polymer composites gaining substantial importance in recent years due to their unique properties compared to synthetic composites. In India (especially northeastern part), cultivars and industries mostly focus on pineapple fruits, leaving leaf to mainly compost or burn and decay as an agro waste. In this article, pineapple leaf–based (variety type Kew or Giant Kew from Silchar, Assam, India) short fiber–reinforced polymer composites as a function of fiber composition and composite thickness on mechanical properties are analyzed. In this regard, short pineapple leaf fibers (≈ 1 mm to 2 mm) as reinforcement + epoxy resin (Lapox (L12) resin + K6 hardener) as matrix material are used for composites. Subsequently, six different fiber compositions (as 0, 1, 5, 10, 15, and 20 wt%) with composite specimen’s thickness (as 3 and 5 mm) are prepaid. Later, mechanical properties like tensile strength, flexural strength, and toughness and hardness values for each of the composite specimens are evaluated. The result shows that the addition of short fiber can improve the mechanical properties and found in all the cases composites with 10% of reinforcement + at 5-mm thickness show better performance than the other combinations.
Electrochemical action and subsequent discharges are utilized in electrochemical discharge machining (ECDM) for the fabrication of components by subtracting undesired material. However, as the process progresses, localized electrolyte vaporization (machining zone) and its leading effects limit the process performance. Controlled delivery of fresh electrolyte into the machining zone to replenish the vaporized electrolyte improves ECDM process performance, utilized in the electrolyte injection-ECDM (EI-ECDM) process. Apart from control strategies, the literature lacks a detailed investigation of the phenomena involved in deteriorating the ECDM’s machining performance, with few researchers investigating how the deposition of the machined by-products on the tooltip might be a significant factor. Therefore, the present work was carried out to investigate the influence of deposition of the machined by-products on outcomes of the ECDM process at different parametric conditions. Various scientific tools and techniques were used to explore the underlying phenomena of machined by-products deposition. This shows that deposition significantly alters the geometry, surface texture, and properties of tool-electrode, which interns affect the ECDM’s performance. Further, experimental results and subsequent characterization reveal that EI-ECDM can significantly control the deposition and enhance the process performance. Thus, a multi-response optimization was performed to increase the applicability of the EI-ECDM process.
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