Coconut coir fiber reinforced polypropylene composites: Investigation on fracture toughness and mechanical properties

Abstract

Nowadays, research and development is focused on environmentally benign, sustainable materials to replace and reduce the dependence on existing petroleum-based products. In this framework, the growth of natural and man-made fiber reinforced composite materials is rising at a faster rate in the field of engineering and technology due to its promising characteristics. The current research work is focused on the development of coir fiber reinforced polypropylene composites (PPC) that is having widespread variety of applications and their characteristics are equivalent to present synthetic composites.The work is focused on the study of fracture toughness behavior of these composites and further characterization of mechanical properties. The fabrication of the specimen was carried out using Injection molding technique. Fracture toughness (Compact Tension) tests were done as per ASTM D-5045 standards. The Tensile, Impact, Flexural Strength, and Hardness tests were done to evaluate the mechanical characteristics. It is found that natural coconut coir fiber reinforced composites showed higher fracture toughness values and improved mechanical properties when compared to neat polypropylene.