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Mechanical properties of glass/palmyra fiber waste sandwich composites
Date Issued
01-12-2005
Author(s)
Velmurugan, R.
Manikandan, V.
Abstract
Uses of natural fibers as reinforcement in polymers have gained importance in the recent years due to the eco-friendly nature. This paper deals with the mechanical properties of the composites made up of palmyra fiber waste [pfw] and the pfw/glass fiber hybrid composites. Composite plates were prepared with 30%, 38%, 45%, 50%, 58%, 65% and 70% wt of fiber waste. Tensile, flexural, shear and impact properties were studied. Composites with 58-65-wt% fibers showed marginal improvement in flexural strength. Tensile strength was decreased and there was considerable improvement in shear and impact properties than that of resin. The properties of the natural fiber reinforced composites can be improved by hybridizing with high strength synthetic fibers such as glass. In this study, the palmyra fiber waste was hybridized with glass fiber in the polyester matrix. Samples were prepared by sandwiching the fiber waste between chopped strand glass fiber mats by varying both glass fibers and waste material content, keeping total fiber content as 60% by weight. Specimens were cut as per ASTM standards and tested in Instron universal testing machine. Mechanical properties of the composites were found to be increased with increase in the amount of glass fiber in the hybrid. Hybrid composites containing 48% waste, 10% glass fiber showed good reinforcement effect than the composites reinforced with 11 wt % glass fiber. The resin used was isophthalic roof light resin, the catalyst and accelerator were methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (MEKP) and cobalt napthanate, respectively.
Volume
12