In this article, modification of mercerized flax (MFx) through graft co-polymerization with methylmethacrylate (MMA) using ferrous ammonium sulphate-potassium per sulphate (FAS-KPS) redox initiator has been reported. Water uptake and moisture absorbance properties of methylmethacrylate grafted mercerized flax (MFx-g-MMA) and mechanical behavior of raw flax, mercerized flax, and MFx-g-MMA fibers reinforced-polystyrene matrix-based composites also have been evaluated. Four reaction parameters, reaction temperature, reaction time, initiator molar ratio, and monomer concentration, have been optimized to get maximum graft yield. Maximum graft yield of 138.35% has been obtained at optimum reaction conditions. The graft co-polymers thus formed were characterized by FTIR, TGA, and SEM techniques. Mercerized flax fiber reinforced showed better results than raw flax and MFx-g-MMA fibers reinforced composites.
In recent times, demand for light weight and high strength materials fabricated from natural fibres has increased tremendously. The use of natural fibres has rapidly increased due to their high availability, low density, and renewable capability over synthetic fibre. Natural leaf fibres are easy to extract from the plant (retting process is easy), which offers high stiffness, less energy consumption, less health risk, environment friendly, and better insulation property than the synthetic fibre-based composite. Natural leaf fibre composites have low machining wear with low cost and excellent performance in engineering applications, and hence established as superior reinforcing materials compared to other plant fibres. In this review, the physical and mechanical properties of different natural leaf fibre-based composites are addressed. The influences of fibre loading and fibre length on mechanical properties are discussed for different matrices-based composite materials. The surface modifications of natural fibre also play a crucial role in improving physical and mechanical properties regarding composite materials due to improved fibre/matrix adhesion. Additionally, the present review also deals with the effect of silane-treated leaf fibre-reinforced thermoset composite, which play an important role in enhancing the mechanical and physical properties of the composites.
The present research focuses on studying the physical, mechanical, and abrasive wear behavior of the hemp/nettle natural fiber woven mat reinforced with the polyester matrix. The hemp and nettle fibers woven mats were reinforced into the polyester matrix by simple hand-layup, and after that compression molding process was used to fabricate the composites. The water absorption, tensile, flexural, and impact properties were studied using a hemp/nettle hybrid composite. This study found that increasing the amount of hemp and nettle fiber in polyester from 3 to 9 wt% increased the mechanical properties of hybrid composites. The higher weight percentage (9 wt%) of hemp/nettle fiber in polyester hybrid composites exhibited the highest tensile (42.41 MPa), flexural (78.52 MPa), impact (22.72 kJ/m 2 ) strength, and a higher hardness value of 46.7 HV. Finite element analysis simulation is conducted on mechanical
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