Investigation on Mechanical characterization of abutilon indicum fiber nonwoven fabric reinforced epoxy composite materials

Abstract

Natural fibres find their way into many engineering applications in the automobile and aerospace sectors owing to their eco-friendly nature. Natural fiber produced from agricultural residue, is capable of enhancing the mechanical and thermal properties of composite materials while lowering their overall cost. The main aim of the current study is to investigate such natural fiber, nonwoven fabric reinforced composites. In this work, samples reinforced by non-woven Abutilon indicum (AI) fibre are manufactured with varying fibre weight percentages, such as 20 %, 25 %, 30 %, 35 %, 40%, using the hand layup method and needle-punching process to make the fabric and composite. Mechanical tests such as tensile, flexural, and compressive tests were using a universal testing machine, and impact tests were performed using an izod impact tester, in addition to morphological and thermal studies were performed on the above composites and their respect compositions. The effect of the fibres on FTIR and TGA was also investigated. In order to understand the bonding behaviors and the fractured composite specimens were examined by a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The findings revealed that the highest values of tensile and flexural strength were observed to be 39.796 MPa and 62.329 MPa at 35 wt. % fibre and maximum impact strength and compressive strength were 0.441 joules and 47.45 Mpa at 35 wt. % fibre.

Mechanical and Ballistic Properties of Epoxy Composites Reinforced with Babassu Fibers (Attalea speciosa)

“…These findings indicate that an increase in the percentage of fibers in the composites results in a greater capacity to absorb impact energy. The energy absorption results obtained by the epoxy matrix composite containing babassu fiber revealed a higher value than is normally found in the literature [57][58][59][60]. However, this difference is subject to variations due to the specific characteristics of the fibers, which vary from one natural fiber to another.…”

Effect of chemical treatment on physico-chemical properties of a novel extracted cellulosic Cryptostegia grandiflora fiber ∗

“…There are many natural fibers extracted from different parts of plants and transformed into low-density polymer composites for various applications [14][15][16][17][18]. Most importantly, the performance of the composites is based on the functional properties of the reinforcement element, interfacial bonding between fiber and polymer, and the type of polymer matrix used for the composite fabrication.…”