Physical and Mechanical Characteristics
Physical and Mechanical Characteristics
ABSTRACT
Fiber-reinforced polymer composites have played a dominant role for a long time in a variety of applications for
their high specific strength and modulus. The fiber which serves as a reinforcement in reinforced plastics may be
synthetic or natural. Past studies show that only synthetic fibers such as glass, carbon etc., have been used in fiber-
reinforced plastics. Although glass and other synthetic fiber-reinforced plastics possess high specific strength, their
fields of application are very limited because of their inherent higher cost of production. In this connection, an
investigation has been carried out to make use of jute, a natural fiber abundantly available in India. Natural fibers
are not only strong and lightweight but also relatively very cheap. The present work describes the development and
characterization of a new set of natural fiber based polymer composites consisting of jute as reinforcement and
epoxy resin. The newly developed composites are characterized with respect to their physical and mechanical
characteristics. Experiments are carried out to study the effect of fiber loading on physical and mechanical behavior
of these epoxy based polymer composites. This work also includes the comparison of elastic properties of
composites using micromechanical models with experimental and existing analytical formulations like rule of
mixture, Halpin-Tsai, and Lewis and Nielsen models that are used extensively in material modeling.
Keywords: Composites, Natural fiber, Physical Characteristics, Mechanical Characteristics
IJSRSET162683 | Received : 29 Nov. 2016 | Accepted : 30 Dec. 2016 | November-December-2016 [(2) 6: 298-301] 298
that the hardness is decreasing with the increase in fibre using the ASTM D3039-76 standard. The dimensions of
length up to 20 mm. Luo and Nikkeshi [5] studied the the specimen are 153 mm × 12.7 mm × 4 mm. The
tensile and flexural properties of polymer composites tensile test is performed in universal testing machine
Instron 1195 at a cross head speed of 2 mm/min. Three-
with different pineapple fibre content and compared
point bend test was carried out in the same machine to
them with the virgin resin. Rusu [6] reported the obtain the flexural strength as per ASTM D790. The
effectiveness of cellulose fibre in improving the dimensions of the specimen are 100 mm × 12.7 mm × 4
stiffness and reducing the damping in polypropylene mm. Impact energy of the composites is evaluated as
cellulose composites. per ASTM D 256 test standards by using Izod impact
tester supplied by VEEKAY test lab, India. Hardness
measurement is done using a Leitz micro-hardness
II. METHODS AND MATERIAL tester.
C4 C3
Impact Energy
C2 (kj/m²)
C3
C1
C2
0 1 2 3 4
C1
Figure 3: Fibre loading Vs Impact Strength
0 20 40 60 80
E. Effect of Fiber Length on Hardness
Figure 1: Fibre loading Vs Tensile strength
C. Effect of Fiber Length on Flexural Strength Figure 4 shows the influence of fibre content on micro-
hardness of jute fiber reinforced epoxy composites.
From the figure it is clear that fibre content has
The Figure 2 shows the comparison of flexural strengths
significant influence over micro-hardness. With the
of the composites obtained experimentally from the
filler content the micro-hardness value increases and
bend tests. It is interesting to note that flexural strength
reaches maximum up to 39.1 Hv for fibre up to 40 wt%
increases with increase in fibre content. This may be
[11].
due to the good compatibility of fibre and epoxy resin
[9].
Hardness (Hv)
Flexural Strength (Mpa)
Flexural Strength C5
C5 (Mpa)
C4
C4
C3
C3
C2 C2 Hardnes…
C1 C1
0 50 100 0 10 20 30 40 50
The impact energy values of different composites The present analytical, experimental and numerical
recorded during the impact tests are given in Figure 3. It investigation of epoxy based composites reinforced with
shows that the resistance to impact loading of jute fiber jute fiber has led to the following conclusions:
reinforced epoxy composites improves with increase in 1. Fabrication of unidirectional jute fiber reinforced
filler content as shown in Figure 3. High strain rates or epoxy based composites with different fiber loading
impact loads maybe expected in many engineering has been done successfully with hand layup
applications of composite materials. The suitability of a technique.