International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 08 Issue: 03 | Mar 2021 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072
© 2021, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 7.529 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 1406
Mechanical Properties of Natural Fibre [White Madar] Reinforced
Polymer Composites
V.Ajith
1
, Dr.P.K.Palani
2
1
PG Scholar in Manufacturing Engineering,Government college of Technology ,Coimbatore,Tamilnadu, INDIA.
2
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering Government college of Technology ,Coimbatore,
Tamilnadu, INDIA
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Abstract - Natural fibers play a very imperative role in the
development of bio-degradable composites to fix the current
environmental problems. In this investigation, the feasibility of
applying renewable and eco-friendly white Calatropis
gigantea fiber, composite as an alternate is studied.These
extracted fibers are characterized by SEM, The chemical
analysis indicates that white Calatropis gigantea fiber has
significant cellulose content (69.65 wt. %) and less density
(558 kg/m 3 ). The average crystalline index (CI) is observed
as 56% and the morphological as well as surface roughness
parameters justified that the white Calatropis gigantea fiber
promotes significant bonding strength, while it is used as
reinforcement in polymer composites. Various samples are
prepared, tensile, compression and flexural tests are carried
out. The results indicate that Calatropis gigantea fiber has
better properties compared to glass fibre.
Key Words: Bio-degradable composites;Calatropis gigantea
fiber; Bonding strength; Crystalline index; Polymer
composites.
1. INTRODUCTION
Composite is a structural material that consists of two
or more constituents that are combined at macroscopic
level and are not soluble in each other. The idea of
combining several components to produce a material
with properties that are not attainable with the
individual components has been used by man for
thousands of years. Almost all the material which we
see around us is a type of composite. Natural fibres in
simple definition are fibre's that are not synthetic or
manmade. They can be sourced from plants or animals.
The use of natural fibre from both resources, renewable
and non-renewable such as oil palm, sisal, flax, and jute
to produce composite materials, gained considerable
attention in the last decades, so far. The plants, which
produce cellulose fibres can be classified into bast fibres
(jute, flax, ramie, hemp, and kenaf), seed fibres (cotton,
coir, and kapok), leaf fibres (sisal, pineapple, and
abaca), grass and reed fibres (rice, corn, and wheat),
and core fibres (hemp, kenaf, and jute) as well as all
other kinds (wood and roots. Advanced composites
comprise structural materials that have been developed
for high technology applications, such as airframe
structures, for which other materials are not sufficiently
stiff. In these materials, extremely stiff and strong
continuous or discontinuous fibres, whiskers, or small
particles are dispersed in the matrix. A number of
matrix materials are available, including carbon,
ceramics, glasses, metals,and polymers.
Arthanarieswaran,[1] describes the evolution of five
water soluble phenol resin as binders at 5 percent
concentration, for oriented and random reinforced
bagasse composite. They tried to determine the amount
of resin retained during processing when these
phenolics were precipitated on to bagassefiber.
Madhu.,P.,M.R.Sanjay [2] tries to use the sugar cane
bagasse waste as reinforcement to polymeric resins for
fabrication of low cost composites. They reported that
composites with homogeneous microstructures could
be fabricated and mechanical properties similar to
wooden agglomerates can be achieved. Kumar, R.,N.
Rajesh Jesudass.[3] in their work reported the
processing and properties of bagasse fiber-
polypropylene composites. Four different chemical
treatments were done on fiber to improve interface
adhesion with the thermoplastic matrix namely
isocyanine, acrylic acid, mercerization and washing
with alkaline solution. Their result shows that the best
results were obtained on materials with treated fibers.
A.Kumaravel and S.S.Saravanakumar. [4, 5] have
converted the bagasse into a thermo formable material
through esterification of the fiber matrix. The
dimensional stability and mechanical properties of the
composites prepared from the esterifies fibers were
reported in this work.Balasundar,P.[6] analyzed the
impact strength and hardness of sugarcane
bagasseresol composites and showed that impact
strength increased and hardness diminished as the fiber
volume fraction increased. Kommula,V.P[7] used short
sugar cane fibers as reinforcement to obtain fiber
reinforce composites. Lignin extracted from sugarcane
bagasse was used as a partial substitute of phenol
(40w/w) in resole phenolic matrices.They
characterized the composite by mechanical tests such
as impact, DMTA and hardness tests. The results as a
whole showed that it is feasible to replace part of
phenol by lignin in phenolic matrices without loss of