Characterization of Fabricated FG Pipe with Natural Fiber-Flyash-Epoxy using Centrifugal Casting

Abstract

This research presents the design of fabrication technique for hollow pipe made up of functionally graded materials and its characterization. In the first part, a horizontal centrifugal casting model is designed and developed using CATIA package. After getting an optimized design the fabrication work is performed in workshop. Different powder materials (Banana stem fiber, Jute fiber and Fly ash) are prepared by considering different chemical treatment and physical process. Different powder sizes (300μ, 150μ, 75μ, 53μ, 45μ) are considered to fabricate current functionally graded cylindrical pipe by altering their weight percentage. The different weight percentages (5%, 7.5%, 10%, 12.5%, 15% of Banana stem and 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, 10%, 12.5% of Fly Ash) of constituents are considered for fabricating FGM cylindrical pipe. By altering the constituent of FGM material composition, twelve numbers of various functionally graded materials (FGMs) pipes are fabricated. In the second part, the material characterization is performed using different testing machines in Laboratories. Mechanical properties (Compression test and Micro hardness test) and physical properties (Density test, Water absorption test and thermal conductivity test) are investigated. Furthermore, the microstructures of the fabricated FGNF pipes are examined using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).