Manufacturing and mechanical response optimization of epoxy resin/Luffa Cylindrica composite

Abstract

The present investigation pertains to the existent possibilities of the fibrous natural material Luffa Cylindrica (LC) as reinforcement to thermoset resins. The main purpose was the manufacturing of an engineering material that would, simultaneously, lead to a more sustainable world. In an effort to optimize the final mechanical properties, semi‐ green Epoxy Resin/Luffa Cylindrica (ER/LC) composites were manufactured, applying a number of different manufacturing parameters combinations. The manufacturing parameters taken into account were: (a) fiber chemical treatments; (b) the external applied pressure during curing; (c) number of plies; (d) stacking sequence effect; (e) LC's structural characteristics; and (f) the influence of fiber weight fraction on composite's behavior. The elastic flexural response of the composite polymer was found improved with respect to neat polymer's response due to fibers' nature and the applied manufacturing optimization process. This improvement was reflected to material's stiffness which optimally increased by 48% for a mechanically applied pressure of 4.6 kPa during curing. Additionally, LC fibers chemically treated with Acetone/ CH3COOH 1 wt % led to stiffness' improvement up to 30%. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 41992.

Properties of Luffa Fiber Reinforced PHBV Biodegradable Composites

“…LFs are edible and used in traditional medicine, in addition to their applications in biotechnology [4], clinical medicine [5,6], mattress materials [7], etc. Research on LF reinforced polymer composites has also been carried out vigorously [8,9], due to their excellent comprehensive properties, making them good reinforcing phases for composite materials [10,11,12,13].…”

Phenetic and genetic diversity in Indian Luffa (Cucurbitaceae) inferred from morphometric, ISSR and DAMD markers

“…(Filipowicz et al 2014). The dried fruits of smooth gourds are popular worldwide as bath sponges, as an alternate biomaterial used for packaging, furniture and plastic appliances, biofuel, automobile and construction industries, ethanol production, skin substitutes, and also an adsorbent of heavy metal contaminants from industrial waters (Shahidi et al 2015;Papanicolaou et al 2015). Besides their known use in ethnomedicine, the fruits, flowers and leaves of the smooth and ridge gourds have been reported to have significant biological activities, including hepatoprotection, antioxidant, antidiabetic, antidermatitis, anticancer and antiinflammatory properties (Jadhav et al 2013;Chawla et al 2013;Ha et al 2015;Sharma et al 2015).…”

Microsatellite analysis of genetic diversity and population structure of hermaphrodite ridge gourd (Luffa hermaphrodita)

“…Its medicinal properties are used as toothache, disinfectant, antihelmintic, anti-diarrhoea, anti-syphilitic, purgative, cardiotonic, laxative, and also potentially cure to diabetes and hypertension (Choudhary et al 2011). Smooth gourd dried fruits are popular and wide-reaching as bath sponges, largely used as substitute biomaterial for packaging, ethanol production, and as an adsorbent of heavy metal present in industrial water (Papanicolaou et al 2015). The collection and conservation of hermaphrodite Luffa in India has not been attempted properly.…”