physical and mechanical performance of · pdf filecompared on the basis of mechanical...

http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/index.asp 722 [email protected]

International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET) Volume 8, Issue 6, June 2017, pp. 722–731, Article ID: IJCIET_08_06_078

Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=8&IType=6 ISSN Print: 0976-6308 and ISSN Online: 0976-6316

© IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed

PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL

PERFORMANCE OF LUFFA-COIR FIBER

REINFORCED EPOXY RESIN BASED HYBRID

COMPOSITES

Vineet Kumar Bhagat

Research Scholar, Mechanical Engineering,

NIT Jamshedpur, Jharkhand (India)

Anil Kumar Prasad

Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering,


Arvind Kumar Lal Srivastava

Professor, Civil Engineering,


ABSTRACT

The present study is carried out on use of natural occurring fiber luffa and coir

to make a hybrid composite. Ten numbers of different samples are prepared which

have different compositions. The influence of fiber length variations and resulting

contents are investigated on characterization of coir fiber and luffa fiber reinforced

hybrid composites using epoxy resin as matrix materials. For this, hybrid composites

are manufactured using simple hand lay-up technique. These composites are

compared on the basis of mechanical properties such as strength, toughness, hardness

and density etc. The results are obtained from the various tests carried out as per

ASTM standard. It is found that the density and void content of composite specimen

increases with increasing fiber content, while increasing the fiber length, density of

composites are decrease. Results reveal that the maximum strength properties are

observed for the composite with 25 wt. % fiber content at 30 mm length. The tensile

modulus and micro-hardness values increases with increase in fiber loading and

length.

Key words: Coir Fiber, Epoxy Resin, Hybrid Composite and Luffa Fiber.

Physical and Mechanical Performance of Luffa-Coir Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Resin Based Hybrid

Composites


Cite this Article: Vineet Kumar Bhagat, Anil Kumar Prasad and Arvind Kumar Lal

Srivastava, Physical and Mechanical Performance of Luffa-Coir Fiber Reinforced

Epoxy Resin Based Hybrid Composites. International Journal of Civil Engineering

and Technology, 8(6), 2017, pp. 722–731.

http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=8&IType=6

1. INTRODUCTION

The recyclability, neutrality of carbon dioxide and environmental friendly way of recovery

makes the natural fibers very important in today’s scenario. Fibers Luffa and coir are

increasing demand due to its environmental friendly, easily availability, marked its values in

composite engineering. It is increased day by days due to its minimum cost comparable to

man-made fibers like carbon, Kevlar, glass which are petrochemical based products. Mallik et

al. [1] presented that Bios fiber composites are fabricated using natural occurs or petroleum

based resin with reinforced as naturally occurring fibers. Lower manufacturing cost,

renewable, higher specific properties, lower density and lighter are its quick advantages have

been studied by Nunna et al. [2] and Verma et al. [3]. Many investigations have been done to

investigate the ability of natural occuring fibers as reinforcement mainly in polymers.

According to Satyanarayana et al. [4] comparatively less aggregated value can utilize only

small quantity of coir fibers. The investigation carried out by monteiro et al. [5] and hill et al.

[6] have found that banana-coir fibers are not much effective reinforcement to utilize in

composites with polymer matrix. Lignocelluloses surface of the hydrophilic coir fiber absorb

water which causes prevention of an efficient adhesion to the hydrophilic polymer matrix

which also happen in other natural fiber composite have been reported by Gassan et al. [7].

Monteiro et al. [8] gives, if the coir fiber undergoes strong alkali treatment, it improves the

adhesion of the fiber to the matrix of polyester and thus increases the strength of the

composite by a rough value of 50% for 30 % volume fraction of coir fiber. Thinner coir fiber

could also be another possibility to reinforce the matrix effectively thus increasing the

strength of the composite.

Monteiro et al. [9] further fabricated a composite with fiber of sisal, ramie and curaua of

thinnest section size in their work and the output suggested improved polymer matrix

composite properties in mechanical behavior. It was observed that the level of flexural

strength of these composite was more than 30 % of the corresponding values obtained for

identical composite with non-selected, average diameter, fiber. Many authors [10-12] have

carried out their studies in this area. They found that the reinforcement of natural fiber into

polymer could improve desired properties. Mechanical behavior of Sisal/jute/glass fiber

reinforced unsaturated polyester composite were studied by Ramesh et al. [13].result gives

that addition of glass fiber in sisal/jute fiber improve the mechanical properties.

Venkatshwaran et al. [14] investigated the tensile behavior of banana/sisal fiber reinforced

hybrid composites. Result shows that experimental values are lower than the hybrid mixture

rule because of void formation in between reinforcement and resin during fabrication.

Devireddy et al. [15] studied the physical and mechanical behavior of banana/jute fiber

reinforced hybrid composites. Result shows that the mechanical properties are significantly

affected by fiber loading. Since most data, in literature cover only a specific loading fraction

of fiber, this work was aimed to develop a novel class of hybrid composite materials covering

a small range of fiber weight fraction, and length, with the use of two different types of

natural fiber that is short coir fiber and Luffa mat and study their physical and mechanical

behavior.

Vineet Kumar Bhagat, Anil Kumar Prasad and Arvind Kumar Lal Srivastava


2. EXPERIMENTAL WORK

2.1. Materials preparation

Coir fiber has been procured from local sources, Alleppey, Kerala, India and Luffa fiber

obtained from local sources of Jharkhand. Epoxy resin (LY 556) and corresponding hardener

(HY951) supplied by Ciba Geigy India Ltd. The bark and seed were removed from luffa

vegetable carefully. After that luffa fiber were cut carefully and make mat like structure

whose dimension was 140mm×100mm. Coconut coir fibers were first cut to the different

length (15, 20, 25, 30 and 35) mm. By using hand lay-up technique the various types of

composite materials were fabricated. Composite mat of uniform thickness was prepared from

Luffa fiber and short coir fiber of particular fiber length. Both fibers are reinforced with

epoxy resin. The low temperature curing Araldite LY556 epoxy resin and corresponding

HY951 hardener is mixed with the ratio of 10:1 by weight percentage. The different hybrid

composite sheet was prepared with the variation of fiber length (fiber weight fraction

constant) and weight fraction (keeping the fiber length constant). For quick and easy removal

of the fabricated composite plate silicon free spray as a releasing agent was also put over the

metal plate. Mould release spray was also applied to the inner surface of the mould wall after

it was set on the metal plate. Pressure was then applied from the top and the mould was

allowed to cure at room temperature for 72 hrs. After curing the composite was cut into

required size of the physical and other mechanical test by the heck saw.

2.2. MECHANICAL TESTING

Micro-hardness is done using a Leitz micro-hardness tester. vikers harness number is

calculate using the following equation.

20.1889V

FH

L= (1)

And 2

X YL

+=

Where, F is the applied load, L is the diagonal of square impression, X and Y are the

horizontal and vertical length, measured in N, mm, mm and mm, respectively.

The density of composite materials in term of weight fraction is found from the following

equation.

( ) ( )o

ct

o a b

ws =

w + w -w (2)

Where Sct represent specific gravity of the composite, Wo represent the weight of the

sample, Wa represent the weight of the bottle and kerosene, and Wb represent the weight of

the bottle and kerosene and sample.

The actual density of the composite is calculated using the following equation.

ca ct ksρ ρ= × (3)

Where caρ represent actual density of composite and

kρ represent density of kerosene.

The theoretical density of composite materials in term of weight fraction can easily be

obtained from the following equation.


Composites


1f m

ct

f m

w wρ

ρ ρ

= +

(4)

Where ᴡ and ρ represent weight fractions and density. The suffix f, m and c stand for the

fiber, matrix and the composite materials, respectively.

The void content of composite sample has been determined as per ASTM D-2734-70

standard procedure. The volume fractions of void (Vv) in the composites are calculated by

using an equation.

ct ca

v

ct

Vρ ρ

ρ

−= (5)

Where ctρ and caρ are the theoretical and actual density of the composite, respectively.

The tension test is generally performed on flat specimens. The tensile tests were

conducted according to the ASTM D 3039-76 standard on a computerized universal testing

machine INSTRON. The spam length of the test specimen used was 42 mm. The test was

performed with a constant strain rate of 2 mm/min. the tensile strength was found out by using

the following equation.

.F

T SA

= (6)

Where F is the maximum load (N); A is the cross-sectional area of the sample

Flexural test is performed using 3-point bending test according to ASTM D790-03

standard procedure. Specimen of 150 mm length and 15 mm wide are taken and tested in

three point bending test at a crosshead speed of 5 mm/min. The test is conducted on the same

machine used for tensile test. The flexural strength (F.S) is computed using the following

equation.

23.

2FLF S

bt= (7)

Where F is the maximum load, L is the distance between the supports, b is the width of

the specimen and t is specimen thickness measured in N, mm, mm and mm, respectively.

Low velocity instrumented impact tests are carried out on the specimen. The standard

specimen size is taken as per ASTM D 256 is 64 mm × 12.7 mm × 4 mm where the depth of

the notch is 2 mm. Respective values of the impact energy of different specimen are recorded

directly on the dial indicator.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

3.1. Hardness, Density and Void Formation

Micro-hardness and density of the composites are inter-related. The effect of fiber length and

content on hardness, density and void are given in table 1. It is analyzed from the table the

micro-hardness of composite increases as the length of fiber increase. Similarly, as the fiber

content, the micro-hardness value increased. A similar trend of micro-hardness value of the

composite specimen increases with increases the length of fiber reinforced has been reported

by Bhagat et al. [16].

Density of the composite specimen completely depends on the relative proportion of fiber

reinforcement and matrix. From the table 1. It can be seen that Density of composite increase

with increasing fiber content. On the other hand, as the length is increased from 15mm to 35



mm the experimental density of the composite are linearly decreased. This is happen due to

addition of long fiber reinforcement into matrix decrease the packing, which leads to the

disruption of fiber distribution and gives high void. .

Figure 1 Variation on Micro-harness of composites

Table 1 Hardness and density value of coir-luffa hybrid epoxy composite

simple Hardness

(Hv)

Experimental

density(g/cm3)

Theoretical

density(g/cm3)

Void content

(vol. %)

A1 19.45 1.201 1.212 0.945

B2 21.87333 1.193 1.212 1.605

C3 22.29667 1.186 1.212 2.182

D4 25.31667 1.184 1.212 2.328

E5 26.51667 1.174 1.212 3.178 1

1A

22.78333 1.276 1.301 1.887

2

1B 23.61667 1.250 1.301 3.909

3

1C 25.46667 1.242 1.301 4.492

4

1D 30.55 1.222 1.301 6.045

5

1E 32.22333 1.200 1.301 7.753

It is analyzed that when the fiber length increase from 15 mm to 35 mm the volume

fraction of void is found to be increasing and similarly behave as increases fiber content.

Composite at higher fiber loading and length exhibits void. Das et al. [17] was also find the

same trend of volume fraction of void increases with increasing length and content.

The decrease in density is observed with an increase in fiber weight fraction and length of

coir fibers in hybrid composites.

3.2. Effect of fiber length and fiber content on tensile properties

Tensile strength and tensile modulus of composite are effected by fiber length and fiber

loading which shows in figs. 1 and 2 respectively.


Composites


Figure 1 Variation on tensile strength of composites.

They found that fabrication of composites also contributes a big impact on the strength,

significantly. It is envisaged that the tensile strength gradually increases with the increase in

fiber length and reaches to a maximum value of 34.54 MPa at 30 mm fiber length and found a

lower value at a greater length of fiber i.e. 35 mm. generally, fiber length is the important

parameter for short fiber reinforce which effect the properties of the composites. In addition to

holding the fiber reinforced together, matrix has an important function of transferring applied

load to the fiber. In case of small fiber length, tensile strength is les due to the fact that length

may not be sufficient for proper distribution load. On the other hand longer fiber length on

composite, tensile strength decreases. Reduction of strength may be due to the fiber

entanglement studied by Rashed et al.[18].From above, it is concluded that maximum strength

of coir and luffa epoxy based hybrid composites is obtained at the fiber length which have a

value near to 30 mm. They have tested the sample of containing fiber length upto 35 mm and

fiber contents at two values i.e. 20% and 25%.

The experiments results shows that the tensile modulus is gradually increased as fiber

length and its contents is increased due to the proper bonding at the interface between fiber

and the matrix which in turns increase the strength of the specimen. Similar trend is also

observed by Geethama et al. [19].composites specimen with 35 mm fiber length and 25 wt. %

gives higher tensile modulus value 2159.34 MPa. Biswas et al.[10] was investigate the tensile

modulus of short coir fiber epoxy resin composite was 2064 MPa of 30 wt.% fiber loading

and at 30 mm fiber length .Mohammed et al.[20] analyzed that the tensile modulus of oil-

palm fiber reinforced epoxy composites was 1342 MPa at 30 wt.% of fiber content.



Figure 2 Variation on tensile Modulus of composites

3.3. Effect of fiber length and fiber content of flexural properties

Fig 3. and fig 4. Shows that the variation in flexural strength and modulus of the composites

with effect of length and content of coir-luffa fiber was obtained experimentally from the

three point bend test. It is interesting to seen that flexural strength increases with increasing in

fiber length up to 30 mm and thereafter it decrease. This is happened due to curling behavior

of fiber or longer fiber tend to ball up resulting in low workability and decline in strength.

Similar trend is also happen in tensile behavior. Zuraida et al.[21] was observed same trend on

the study of fiber length variation on coir fiber cement-albumen composites.

Fig 4. Depict the effect of fiber length and fiber content on flexural modulus of luffa-coir

based composite specimen. From current observation we can say that the as the fiber length

increases the flexural modulus also increase irrespective of fiber content. This is happened

due to the proper adhesion between fiber and matrix. On other hand as increasing fiber length

30 mm to 35 mm the flexural modulus is decreasing when further increase the length this is

happened due to the curling nature of fiber which is unable to transfer the load in between

fiber and matrix. Maximum flexural modulus 1092.62 MPa is obtained for specimen with 25

wt. % fiber content and 35 mm fiber length. Hill et al. [22] exibit the same trend of flexural

modulus on the analysis of effect of fiber treatment on mechanical properties of coir or oil

palm fiber reinforced polyester composites.


Composites


Figure 3 Effect of fiber content and fiber length on Flexural strength of composites.

Figure 4 Variation on Flexural modulus of composites

3.4. Effect of fiber length and fiber content on impact strength

The impact properties of a materials is its capacity to absorb and dissipate energy under

impact or shock loading. The impact failure of a composite occur by factors like matrix

fracture, fiber/matrix debonding and fiber pull out. It is show that the resistance of impact

loading coir-luffa fiber reinforced epoxy composite improve with gradually increasing fiber

length as show in fig.5. the reason are that the fiber is capable of absorbing energy which

remove the void content in the composites because of appreciative mix up fiber and matrix.

Fig 5. Also show that the increase in impact strength with the increase in fiber content due to

interfacial bonding between fiber and matrix. The same trend was investigated by Biswas et

al. [10].



Figure 5 Variation on Impact Strength of composites.

4. CONCLUSION

Current study emphasis the mechanical behaviors of luffa fiber and coir fiber a reinforced

polymer hybrid composites have been analyzed. Following conclusions are drawn from the

present investigation:

• Fabrication of luffa-coir epoxy based hybrid composites are successfully develop by simple

hand lay-up method.

• It has been examine that the void content and hardness of composites are increases with

increasing the both parameter which is fiber length and fiber content. On the other hand

density are decreased with increasing fiber length and content.

• Maximum strength behavior is identified for composite with 25 wt. % fiber content at length

of 30mm.the maximum flexural strength of 60.13 Mpa is observed for composites with the

same composition as earlier. It can be observed that with the increasing of fiber length, the

tensile modulus increases irrespective of fiber loading. Similarly, the maximum hardness

value of 30.55 Hv is obtained for composite with 25 wt. % content at 30 mm fiber length. It is

observed form the figure that maximum impact strength 31.74 kJ/m2 is found at 35 mm fiber

length and 25 wt.% of fiber content.

REFERENCES

[1] P.K. Mallik, fibre reinforced composites-materials, manufacturing and design, (2nd edition.

Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, 74 1993).

[2] S. Nunna, P. R.Chandra, S. Shrivastava , A.K. Jalan , A review on mechanical behavior of

natural fibre based hybrid composites 31, 2012.759-769.

[3] D. Verma, P.C. Gope, A. Shandilya, A. Gupta, M. K. Maheshwari, Coir Fibre Reinforcement and Application in Polymer Composites: A Review, J. Mater. Environ. Sci

4(2), 2013. 263-276.

[4] K. G. Satyanaryana, K. Sukumaran,A.G. Kulkerni, S.G.K. Pillai ,P.K. Rohatgi, fabrication

and properties of natural reinforced polyester composite. Composites 17, 1986, 329.

[5] S.N.Monteiro, L.A.H. Terrones, J.R.M. D’Almeida, (2008). Mechanical performance of

coir fibre/polyester composites, Polymer Testing 27(2), pp. 591–595


Composites


[6] C.A.S.Hill, and H.P.S. Abdul, “The effect of environmental exposure upon the mechanical

properties of coir or oil palm fiber reinforced composites.” Journal of Applied Polymer

Science 77(6), 2000. 1322-1330.

[7] Jochen Gassan, and Andrzej k. Bledzki, “Effect of cyclic moisture absorbtion desorption

on the mechanical properties of silianzed jute-epoxy composites”. Polymer Composites,

20 (4), 1999. 604-6011.

[8] S.N Monteiro, H.P.G. Santaf Jr., and L.L Costa, “proceeding of characterization of

minearals, metal & materials- TMS Conference”, san Francisco, CA, USA,2009.

[9] S.N Monterio, K.G Satyanaryana, F.P.D. Lpes, high strain natural fiber for improved

polymer matrix composites”, materials science forum, vol. 636-642, 2010. 961-966,

[10] Sandhyaran Biswas, Sanjay Kindo, and Amar patnaik. “Effect of fiber length on

mechanical behavior of coir fiber reinforced epoxy composites.” Fibers and Polymers, 12,

2011.73-78.

[11] M. Sumaila , I. Amber, M. Bawa, Effect of fibre length on the physical and mechanical

properties of random oreinted, nonwoven short banana (musa balbisiana) fibre /epoxy

composite, Asian journal of natural & applied sciences, 2, 2013. 39-49.

[12] G. Kalaprasad , B. Francis, S. Thomas, C.R. Kumar , C. Pvitharan , G. Groninckx , Effect

of fiber length and chemical modification on the tensile properties on intimately mixed

short sisal/glass hybrid fibre reinforced low density polyethylene composites, Polymer

international, 53(11), 2004. 1624-1638.

[13] M. Ramesh, K. Palanikumar, and K. Hemachandra Reddy. “Mechanical properties

evaluation of sisal-jute-glass fiber reinforced polyester composites.” Composite part B:

Engineering, 48, 2013.1-9.

[14] N. Venkateshwaran, A. Elayperumal, A &G. K. Sathiya,Prediction of tensile properties of

hybrid –natural fiber composites. Composites Part B: Engineering, 43(2), 2012. 793-796.

[15] S. B. R. Devireddy, & S. Biswas, Physical and mechanical behavior of unidirectional

banana/jute fiber reinforced epoxy based hybrid compostes. Polymer composites.2015.

[16] Vineet Kumar Bhagat, Sandhyarani Biswas, and Janaki Dehury, “Physical, mechanical, and water absortion behavior of coir/glass fiber reinforced epoxy bsed hybrid composite.”

Polymer Composites 35(5) 2014.925-930.

[17] G. Das, & S. Biswas, Effect of fiber parameter on physical, mechanical and water

abortion behavior of coir fiber-epoxy composites. Journal of Reinforced Plastic and Composites, 35(8), 2016. 644-653.

[18] H. M.M. A. Rashed, M. A. Islam, & F. B. Rizvi, Effect of process parameter on tensile

strength of jute fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites. Journal of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, 3(1), 2006. 1-6.

[19] V. G. Geethamma, R.Joseph, and S. Thomas, Short coir fiber-reinforced natural rubber

composites: Effects of fiber length, orientation, and alkali treatment. Journal of Applied

Polymer Science, 55(4), 1995. 583-594.

[20] L. A. Y. H. Mohammed, M. N. Nsari, & F. Pua, Effect of chemical treatment on oil palm

fiber/epoxy composites. Int J Sci Eng Technol, 3, 2015. 322-327.

[21] A. Zuraida, S. Norshahida, I. Sopyan, & H. Zahurin, Effect of fiber length variation on

coir fiber reinforced cement-albumen composites. IIUM Engineering Journal, 12(1), 2011,

63-75.

[22] C. A. S.Hill, & Abdul Khalil, H. P. S, Effect of fiber treatment on mechanical properties

of coir or oil palm fiber reinforced polyester composites. Journal of Applied polymer

science, 78(9), 2000, 1685-1697.

physical and mechanical performance of · pdf filecompared on the basis of mechanical...

Documents