Tensile and microstructural properties of unidirectional coir bio-derived epoxy composites

Abstract

The study investigates the possibilities of reinforcing bio-derived epoxy (bio-epoxy) polymer with unidirectional arrays of coir fibre using hand layup. The coir fibres were unidirectionally prepared in two layers. The tensile properties such as strength, Young’s modulus and elongation at break were found to be 43.83 MPa, 2.4 GPa and 2.72 % respectively. The tensile strength of coir/bio-epoxy composite was higher than the unreinforced bio-epoxy resin. The fibre volume fraction of the composites obtained using ImageJ on an 8-bit grey scale was 34%. The optical microstructure of the composites shows the distribution of the fibres within the bio-epoxy matrix.