Mechanical Characterization of pineapple leaf fiber and corn husk powder reinforced epoxy composites

Abstract

Composites are lightweight, fatigue resistant, easily moldable materials that are attractive alternative to metals in various engineering applications. Composites have the ability to meet diverse design requirements with significant weight reduction of parts yet offering high strength to weight ratio as compared to conventional materials. The need of new materials for applications demanding lighter construction materials, automobile parts and seismic resistant structures has motivated the use of advanced composite materials that can not only be an advantage in decreasing the dead weight but also in absorbing the impact load and vibration. Further, the reduction in weight of vehicle results in decrease in dead weight of the engine ensuring less power requirement and thereby lowering the fuel consumption. Natural fiber based composites are under intensive study due to their light weight, eco friendly nature and unique properties. Due to the continuous supply, ease of handling, safety and biodegradability, natural fibers are considered as better alternatives in replacing many structural and non structural components. Although natural fibers exhibit admirable physical and mechanical properties, the composites fabricated using natural fibers are found to vary in their properties with respect to the plant source, species, geography, and henceforth. Corn Husk Powder (CHP) and Pineapple Leaf Fiber (PALF) can be a new source of raw material to the industries and can be potential replacement of the expensive and nonrenewable synthetic fiber. In the present work, three different composites were fabricated with bidirectional PALF mat as the reinforcement material, corn husk powder as the filler material and epoxy as the matrix material by changing weight fraction of reinforcement and filler (10:20, 15:15 and 20:10 % of PALF and CHP respectively). PALF were subjected to alkali treatment for improving adhesion properties with matrix material. Composites were prepared using hand layup technique by maintaining constant fiber and matrix volume fraction. The samples of the composites thus fabricated were subjected to tensile, flexural and impact tests for finding the effect of corn husk powder in different concentrations. Tensile fractured surfaces of composites were analyzed for determining bonding ability of fiber with matrix using Video Measuring System (VMS). The test results showed that the Tensile properties of composite B (15%PALF & 15% CHP) and Composite C (20%PALF & 10% CHP) reached the maximum

Characterization of Chemical-Treated and Gamma Irradiated Pineapple Leaf Fabric/Epoxy Composites: Surface Structure and Physico-Mechanical Properties

“…All of these chemicals were used without any further modifications. The properties of PALF used in this study are listed in Table 1 [17,18].…”