Manufacturing of long puchika grass fibre reinforced polyester composites: Assessment under mechanical and dielectric loading

Abstract

The introduction of the 'sustainable development' concept changed the mindset of environmental concerned people to introduce the new materials reinforced with natural renewable substances. An attempt is made in this work to introduce a new natural fibre extracted from the puchika grass, and its physical and mechanical performance is evaluated. Variation of chemicals, concentration and soaking time on this natural fibre resulted in the diversified characteristics of the fibre surface and are observed using scanning electron microscope. Fibre in its raw form and chemically treated is reinforced into the polyester matrix at various contents to assess their mechanical performance under tensile, flexural and impact loadings. Puchika grass CT-7 FRP composites have exhibited the highest tensile strength (58.09) and modulus (1.313 GPa) at maximum fibre content. The composites reinforced with puchika grass CT-3 and CT-7 at maximum fibre volume fraction resulted in maximum flexural strength of 74.93 MPa and 7.51 GPa, respectively. The Charpy impact strength of the material is 65.01 kJ/m 2 at 45.95 % fibre volume fraction. The insulation ability of the composites is also assessed after dielectric strength test, and the highest value achieved is 9.67 kV/mm at very low fibre content.