Effect of Fiber Orientation on Mechanical Properties of Sisal Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composites Kumaresan. M 1 *, Sathish. S 2 and Karthi. N 3 1 Kalaignarkarunanidhi Institute of Technology, Coimbatore-641402, Indian 2 KPR Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore-641407, Indian 3 Sri Krishna College of Technology, Coimbatore-641042, Indian Abstract This present work evaluated the effect of fiber orientation on mechanical properties of sisal fiber reinforced epoxy composites. In this work sisal fiber is used as reinforcement which treated with NaOH solution for enhancing the bonding strength between fiber and resin by removing moisture contents. Samples of different orientations of sisal fiber reinforced composites were fabricated by compression molding and investigated their mechanical properties like tensile strength and flexural strength. The work of this experimental study has been carried out to determine the mechanical properties due to the effect of sisal fiber orientations such as 0°/90°, 90°and ±45° orientation. The results of this study indicate the orientation 90° shows the better mechanical properties compare than 0°/90° and ±45°. Key Words: Sisal Fiber, Epoxy Resin, Compression Molding, Fiber Orientation 1. Introduction Fiber reinforced polymer composites are being used in almost every type of applications in our daily life and its usage continues to grow at an impressive rate. The manufacture, use and removal of traditional composite structures usually made of synthetic fibers are consi- dered critically because of the growing environmental pollution. It creates interest in the use of biofibers as re- inforcing components for thermoplastics and thermo sets. Sisal fiber (SF), a member of the Agavaceae family is a biodegradable and environmental friendly plant. Sisal fi- ber is a strong, durable, stable and versatile material and it has been recognized as an important source of fiber for composites. It is generally accepted that the mechani- cal properties of fiber reinforced polymer composites are controlled by factors such as nature of matrix, fiber-ma- trix interface, fiber volume or weight fraction, fiber as- pect ratio, fiber orientation etc [1]. The combination results in superior properties not exhibited by the indi- vidual materials. Many composite materials are com- posed of just two phases one is termed as matrix phase, which is continuous and surrounds the other phase often called the dispersed phase [2-5]. Composites reinforced with natural fibers received increasing interest from in- dustries in a wide field of application such as automo- bile, construction, aerospace and packing (Ku H et al. 2011; Pickering KL et al. 2007). The main drawback of using natural fiber is their high level of moisture ab- sorption, insufficient adhesion between untreated fibers and the polymer matrix which can lead to deboning with age (Gassan J 2002). Many of the plant fibers such as coir, sisal, jute, banana, palmyra, pineapple, talipot, hemp, etc. find applications as a resource for industrial mate- rials (Satyanarayana et al., 1990b; Thomas & Udo, 1997; Rowell et al., 1997) Proper design of a composite system subjected to high loading rates can be accomplished only if the strain rate sensitivity of the material has been mea- sured and the modes of failure and energy absorption are well characterized [6]. For instance, sisal is a hard leaf fiber but jute and hemp are both bast fibres and are gen- erally referred to as ‘soft’ fibers to distinguish them from Journal of Applied Science and Engineering, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 289-294 (2015) DOI: 10.6180/jase.2015.18.3.09 *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
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Effect of Fiber Orientation on Mechanical Properties
of Sisal Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composites
Kumaresan. M1*, Sathish. S2 and Karthi. N3
1Kalaignarkarunanidhi Institute of Technology, Coimbatore-641402, Indian2KPR Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore-641407, Indian
3Sri Krishna College of Technology, Coimbatore-641042, Indian
Abstract
This present work evaluated the effect of fiber orientation on mechanical properties of sisal
fiber reinforced epoxy composites. In this work sisal fiber is used as reinforcement which treated with
NaOH solution for enhancing the bonding strength between fiber and resin by removing moisture
contents. Samples of different orientations of sisal fiber reinforced composites were fabricated by
compression molding and investigated their mechanical properties like tensile strength and flexural
strength. The work of this experimental study has been carried out to determine the mechanical
properties due to the effect of sisal fiber orientations such as 0�/90�, 90�and �45� orientation. The
results of this study indicate the orientation 90� shows the better mechanical properties compare than