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Physical and Mechanical Characteristics

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Physical and Mechanical Characteristics

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Brhane Teklay
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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© 2016 IJSRSET | Volume 2 | Issue 6 | Print ISSN: 2395-1990 | Online ISSN : 2394-4099

Themed Section: Engineering and Technology

Physical and Mechanical Characteristics of the Jute Fibre


Reinforced Polymer Composites
Syam Kumar Degala, K. Urmilla
Department of Mechanical Engineering, VNR College of Engineering, Ponnur, Andhra Pradesh, India

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

I. INTRODUCTION When two or more materials with different properties


are combined together, they form a composite material.
The development of composite materials and their Composite material comprises of strong load carrying
related design and manufacturing technologies is one of material (known as reinforcement) imbedded with
the most important advances in the history of materials. weaker materials (known as matrix). The primary
Composites are the material used in various fields functions of the matrix are to transfer stresses between
having exclusive mechanical and physical properties the reinforcing fibres/particles and to protect them from
and are developed for particular application [1]. mechanical and/or environmental damage whereas the
Composite materials having a range of advantages over presence of fibers/particles in a composite improves its
other conventional materials such as tensile strength, mechanical properties like tensile strength, flexural
impact strength, flexural strengths, stiffness and fatigue strength, impact strength, stiffness etc [3].
characteristics. Because of their numerous advantages
they are widely used in the aerospace industry, In the recent years there is a vast growth in natural fibre
commercial mechanical engineering applications, like based polymer composites due to its various attractive
machine components, automobiles, combustion engines, features likes biodegradability, no abrasiveness,
mechanical components like drive shafts, tanks, brakes, flexibility, availability, low cost, light weight etc.
pressure vessels and flywheels, thermal control and Different researchers have performed various
electronic packaging, railway coaches and aircraft experiments to enhance the mechanical properties of
structures etc [2]. natural fibre based polymer composites. Gregory et al.
[4] studied the effect of length on mechanical behaviour
of coir fibre reinforced epoxy composites and observed

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.

A. Materials Description III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION


A. Density
In the present work, epoxy resin (LY 556) is used as the
matrix material and its common name is Bisphenol-A-
Density of a composite material depends on the relative
Diglycidyl-Ether chemically belongs to „epoxide‟
proportion of reinforcement and matrix and is one of the
family. The resin and the corresponding hardener (HY
most important factors in determining the properties of
951) were supplied by Ciba Geigy India Ltd. Banana
composites. The void content of composites is the
(Musa sapientum) and jute (Corchorus capsularis) fibers
difference between the experimental density and the
are used as reinforcement materials for fabricating the
theoretically density values of composites. Densities
composite specimen. Banana fiber has been obtained
and void fraction of different composites are shown in
from V. K Enterprise, Gujarat and jute fiber has been
Table 1. It can be seen that the void content in the
obtained from the local supplier.
composites increases with the increase in fiber content.
B. Fabrication of Composite Presence of large amounts of the hydroxyl group in
natural fibers makes them polar and hydrophilic in
The fabrication of the epoxy based polymer composites nature; on the other hand, most polymers are
is done by conventional hand lay-up technique followed hydrophobic in nature. This polar nature also results in
by light compression moulding. Fiber are taken for the high moisture absorption in natural fiber based polymer
study such as unidirectional. Composites are fabricated
composites, leading to fiber swelling and voids in the
with five different fiber loadings (0 wt.%, 10 wt.%, 20
wt.%, 30 wt.%, and 40 wt.%). The composition and fibe-matrix interface [7].
designation of various composites fabricated using TABLE I. DENSITIES AND VOID FRACTION OF
epoxy as the base matrices are presented in Table 4.2. DIFFERENT COMPOSITES
For epoxy based composites, the epoxy and hardener
HY951 are mixed in a ratio of 10:1 by weight as
recommended. Care is taken to avoid the formation of Void
Composit Theoretica Experimenta
air bubbles during preparation. A moderate pressure of fractio
e l Density l Density
0.1 MPa is applied from the top and then mould is n
allowed to cure at room temperature for 48 hrs. After 48 C1 1.15 1.146 0.347
hrs, the samples are taken out of the mould and cut into
C2 1.1709 1.157 1.187
required size by diamond cutter for physical and
mechanical tests. Figure 4.6 shows the fabricated C3 1.1925 1.165 2.313
composite sheets.
C4 1.2150 1.173 3.464
C. Physical and Mechanical Testing
C5 1.2389 1.152 4.559
The theoretical where, W and ρ represent the weight
fraction and density respectively. The suffixes f and m B. Effect of Fiber Length on Tensile Strength
stand for the fiber and matrix respectively density of
composite materials in terms of weight fractions of
different constituents can easily be obtained as for the The test results for tensile strength shown in Figure 1. It
following equation given by Agarwal and Broutman. is seen that the tensile strength of the composite
The tensile strength of hybrid composites is determined increases with increase in fiber length. There can be two
International Journal of Scientific Research in Science, Engineering and Technology (ijsrset.com)
299
reasons for this increase in the strength properties of composite for such applications should therefore be
these composites compared. One possibility is that the determined not only by usual design parameters, but by
chemical reaction at the interface between the filler its impact or energy absorbing properties [10].
particles and the matrix may be too strong to transfer the
tensile strength [8].
Impact Energy (kj/m²)

Longitudinal Tensile strength (Mpa) C5


C5 Longitudinal Tensile… C4

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

Figure 4: Fibre loading Vs Hardness


Figure 2: Fibre loading Vs Flexural strength

D. Effect of Fiber Length on Impact Strength IV.CONCLUSION

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.

International Journal of Scientific Research in Science, Engineering and Technology (ijsrset.com)


300
2. The density, void content and water absorption [10] Bengtsson M, Gatenholm P and Oksman K, The
coefficients of the unidirectional composites are effect of crosslinking on the properties of
greatly affected by the type of fiber material, fiber polyethylene/wood flour composites, Composites
loading, and type of matrix materials. With increase Science and Technology, 65, 2005, pp. 1468-
in fiber loading, density, void content and water 1479.
absorption coefficients increases invariably for both [11] Sreekala, M. S, Kumaran M.G, Joseph S, Jacob M
the epoxy based composites. and Thomas S, “Oil palm fiber reinforced phenol
3. The mechanical properties of the composites are formaldehyde composites: influence of fiber
improved by adding the jute fiber as reinforcement surface modifications on the mechanical
in polymer matrix. performance” Applied Composite Materials, 7,
2000, pp. 295-329.
V. REFERENCES

[1] W. J. Cantwell and A.C. Moloney, Fractography


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[3] H. Wang, Y. Bai, S. Lui, J. Wu and C.P. Wong,
Combined effects of silica filler and its interface
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[4] S.W. Gregory, K.D. Freudenberg, P. Bhimaraj
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[5] S. Nikkeshi, M. Kudo and T. Masuko, Dynamic
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[6] M. Rusu, N. Sofian and D. Rusu, Mechanical and
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density polyethylene composites, J. Polymer
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