Indian Journal of Engineering & Materials Sciences Vol. 25, August 2018, pp. 295-300 Experimental study of tensile and flexural properties of kans grass fiber reinforced polyester composites Vishal Ahlawat*, Anuradha Parinam & Sanjay Kajal c Mechanical Engineering Department, University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra 136 119, India Received 18 November 2016; accepted 28 November 2017 The present paper describes the use of kans grass fiber as a new natural fiber in composite development. The fibers are collected from riped kans grass plants and reinforced in to the polyester resin with 0, 10, 13.35, 18 and 20.08 vol%. The tensile strength, tensile modulus and the density of kans grass fiber are found to be 278-619 MPa, 8.1-11.1 GPa and 441 kg/m 3 , respectively. The composites tensile strength and modulus increase with increase in the fiber vol% from 10 to 20.08. The flexural strength also increases with increase in fiber vol% but remains lower than that of the neat polyester. It has been further observed that the addition of fibers increases the flexural modulus and made the 20.08 vol% specimen 2.1 times stiffer than the neat specimen. The fiber reinforcement has noticeable improvement in specific tensile strength, and modulus and specific flexural modulus of the composite specimens whereas no significant increment is observed in specific flexural strength. This experimental study shows the potential of kans grass fibers in the development of composites for light weight applications due to its low density and better strength. Keywords: Natural fibers, Kans grass fiber polyester composites, Tensile strength, Flexural strength Over the past few years, as the environmental awareness increased all over the world, several programs and inventions involving biodegradable products were introduced into the system of production. Composites made of natural fibers greatly contribute to the care of nature. These types of reinforcements having an effective mechanical performance even in hot and humid environment, low density, infinite availability and easy disposal capability, offer a great alternative to the synthetic fibers used in different composites. Natural fibers offer a great competition to the synthetic fibers in relation to their specific strength and stiffness. Hennery Ford was the first person to start using bio based composites made of soybeans. Plastic components reinforced with natural fibers provide low density, adequate specific strength, better energy recovery, CO 2 sequestration, and decomposability at very low cost 1-3 . Nearly one fourth of a vehicle’s weight is just a waste in the form of plastics, fibers, foams, rubber and glass and bio-composites are the best alternatives to such kind of products. The use of raw renewable fibers helps in reducing the energy consumption and the environmental impacts 4 . Dynamic mechanical properties such as glass transition temperature, fiber loading and damping peaks of the short banana fibers were investigated on the basis of volume fraction of the fibers 5 . Most of the properties improved with increase in volume fraction of fiber up to 40% and then subsequently decreased with further fiber introduction. The study of mechanical properties of polypropylene bio-composites reinforced with coir, sisal, hemp, jute and kenaf showed that properties of these composites were in the better agreement than that of the glass in certain cases 6 . Therefore, the natural fiber composites can become a possible substitute of glass in light weight applications. The coir fiber composites were analyzed for its structural and mechanical properties on the basis of its weight fraction 7 . It was reported that maximum weight percentage up to 50% of fibers provide the best mechanical properties. The hardness and stiffness of composition decreased with more fiber loading. The golden cane polyester composites showed a gradual increase in the mean tensile strength at a volume fraction of 0.43, which is 2.13 times greater than that of neat polyester 8 . The mean flexural strength of composite increased moderately from volume fraction of 0.137 of fiber and impact strength was 22 times higher than that of resin. When jowar ———————— *Corresponding author (E-mail: vahlawat2015@kuk.ac.in)