Abstract
The EU's End of Life Vehicles (ELV) regulations are forcing car manufacturers to consider the environmental impact of their production and possibly shift from the use of synthetic materials to the use of agro-based materials. However, poor mechanical properties and certain manufacturing limitations currently limit the use of agro-based materials to non-structural and semi-structural automotive components. This research is focused on a composite of hybrid coconut/glass fiber as reinforcement in recycled low density polyethylene matrix alone to enhance the desired mechanical properties for car bumper as automotive structural components. X-ray fluorescence analysis conducted on coconut fiber showed the presence of silica and alumina materials make coconut fibre a choice one. Morphology analysis was performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), which reveals that there are small discontinuities and reasonably uniform distribution of the reinforcement fibers and the reinforced low density polyethylene (RLDPE) binder resulting to better mechanical properties. Physic-chemical properties that directly affect developed composite such as variation of Density, Water Absorption, Tensile Strength, Bending strength, Modulus of rupture, Impact Strength and Hardness Values were investigated for both unhybridized and hybridized developed composite. The study shows the successful development of composites of coconut fiber (CF) hybridized with glass fiber (GF) and reinforced low density polyethylene (RLDPE) binder using a simple molding technique. Hybridized samples (CF-GF/RLDPE) showed higher strength when compared to un-hybridized (CF/RLDPE) composites. Better microstructural bonding exists with 25% and 30% wt CF-GF composite resulting in good mechanical properties for the hybridized composites. The grades of composites obtained in the course of this study are applicable in the production of low strength car bumpers.
Highlights
In its most basic form, a composite material is one which is composed of at least two elements working together to produce a material whose properties are different from the properties of those elements on their own.In practice, most composites consist of a bulk material and a reinforcement material, usually in fiber form, which is added primarily to increase the strength and stiffness of the matrix
Unlike the 5% wt coconut fiber (CF) composite a large amount of binder phase is observed with 5% wt CF-glass fiber (GF) hybrid composite, which accounts for its better hardness, tensile strength
The results reveal from (Figure 6) that hybridization slightly increased the density of the coconut fiber reinforced polymer composites
Summary
In its most basic form, a composite material is one which is composed of at least two elements working together to produce a material whose properties are different from the properties of those elements on their own.In practice, most composites consist of a bulk material (the matrix) and a reinforcement material, usually in fiber form, which is added primarily to increase the strength and stiffness of the matrix. Composite materials offer great potential in reducing vehicle weight, increasing fuel efficiency and reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The transportation industries are utilizing increasing amounts of natural fiber- reinforced plastics in an effort to decrease vehicle weight and boost fuel efficiencies. Despite these advantages, undesirable mechanical properties such as low impact strength and their hydrophilic nature are limiting their application to non-structural and semi-structural automotive components. Clark et al (1991) described their extensive work on bumper beams using continuous glass fiber composites to study the stress contour in for a passenger car.
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