Mechanical Characterization of Banana fibre reinforced Natural fibre composite

Abstract

Fibre reinforced composites have been an essential concern in various fields, especially in the field of aerospace owing to its high strength to weight ratio, toughness, corrosion resistant and low cost. Natural fibre reinforced composites have produced better results in mechanical properties like impact, toughness and fatigue strengths when compared to synthetic fibre reinforced composites. Recently researches have been conducted on different varieties of natural fibres for use in plastics such as jute straw, wood, rice husk, wheat, barley etc. Natural fibres have also attracted the attention of researchers due to its availability, renewability, degradability and most importantly ecofriendly. In this work an attempt is made to improve the mechanical properties of the composite and also to enhance the compatibility of the fibres with the matrix. The composite is prepared by reinforcing banana fibres into unsaturated epoxy matrix using hand layup method. Mechanical properties such as tensile strength, flexural strength and hardness strengths are carried out on the specimens made by reinforcing with 5%, 10 % and 15 %concentration of banana fibre by weight. The results showed that the composite with 15% concentration of banana fibre produced higher tensile strength of 21.43 MPa, flexural strength of 0.895 kPa and Shroud hardness of 59.3.