International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056 Volume: 06 Issue: 05 | May 2019 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072 © 2019, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 7.211 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 1876 Effect of Mercerization of Mechanical Behavior of Banana Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composites Mohd Shaver 1 , Amit Kaimkuriya 2 1 M.Tech. Research Scholar, Mechanical Engineering Department, Millennium Institute of Technology, Bhopal, India 2 Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department, Millennium Institute of Technology, Bhopal, India ------------------------------------------------------------------------***----------------------------------------------------------------------- Abstract:- In present work, banana fibers are used as reinforcement in epoxy matrix. The fibers used in present work are of two different kinds having 4 mm length. The first is untreated banana fiber and the other is banana fiber treated with NaOH aqueous solution. With the above fibers, two different categories of composites were fabricated using simple hand lay-up technique. Each category consists of five different sets of composites with fiber content maximum up to 15 wt%. General trend observed in their mechanical properties i.e. tensile strength, flexural strength, hardness and impact energy are reported in the present investigation. The main emphasis of the work is to study the effect of treatment of banana fiber surface with NaOH aqueous solution on various mechanical properties. The reason for change in behaviour of properties of composites with fiber content and surface treatment were discussed in detail in the work. Keywords: Polymer matrix composites, epoxy, banana fiber, mercerization, mechanical properties. 1. Introduction In the last few decades, natural fiber-reinforced polymer composites have received substantial attention in the field of research and innovation [1, 2]. Natural fibers in simple definition are fibers that are not synthetic or manmade. They can be sourced from plants or animals. Among the two natural fibers obtained, plants fibers find more potential application in polymer composites. Natural fibers obtained from plants are harvested from renewable resources and readily available at low prices. Their specific properties are comparable to synthetic fibers (e.g., glass fibers) that are traditionally used as reinforcing phases in polymer based composite materials [3, 4]. The plant, which produces cellulose fibers can be classified into bast fibers (jute, flax, ramie, hemp and kenaf), seed fibers (cotton, coir and kapok), leaf fiber (sisal, pineapple and banana), grass and reed fibers (rice, corn and wheat) and core fibers (hemp, kenaf and jute) as well as all other kinds (wood and roots) [5]. Fiber reinforced polymer composites are in great use because of the good properties and superior advantages of natural fiber over synthetic fibers in terms of its relatively low weigth, low cost, less damage to processing equipments, good relative mechanical properties, improved surface finish, renewable resources, being abundant, biodegrability and minimal health hazards [6]. On the other hand, natural fibers are not free from problems and they have notable deficits in properties. The natural fiber structure consists of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, pectin etc and permits moisture absorption from the surroundings which cause weak bindings between fiber and polymer. Accordingly, natural fiber modification using specific treatments are certainly necessary. In a review of chemical treatments of natural fibers, Kabir et al. [7] concurred that treatment is an important factor that has to be considered when processing natural fibers. They observed loose hydroxyl groups due to different chemical treatments, thereby reducing the hydrophilic behavior of the fibers and causing enhancement in mechanical strength as well as dimensional stability of natural fiber reinforced polymer composites. Banana fiber, one of the most widely used natural fibers, has an annual output about 1.5 million tons all over the world. Among the available cellulosic fibers, banana fiber possesses moderately high specific strength and stiffness and is a good candidate as reinforcing material [8]. Banana fiber reinforced thermoplastics composites have gained tremendous interest because of their easy processing, low cost and recyclability. This is the main reason banana fiber in its long form were used as reinforcement in polymers and were investigated by many researchers in past. In this series Liu et al. [9] used banana fiber in high density polyethylene in their study and evaluated the morphological, water absorption and thermal stability of the fabricated samples. Later Paul et al. [10] used banana fiber in the form of short length and incorporated it in polypropylene fiber. Prior to that, they modified the surface of banana fiber with various chemical treatment to provide good adhesion between fiber and matrix body. They used solvatochromic technique for investigating the polarity parameters of the chemically modified banana fiber. After that they observed that the polarity of the banana fiber was decreased after the chemical treatment. The adhesion