Development of coir-fiber-reinforced nanocomposite for shell eco marathon vehicle body application

Abstract

Many researches had been conducted on natural fiber nanocomposites to replace conventional material in vehicle application. This is due to the environmental sustainability awareness that is arising nowadays. The topic of this research focuses on the development of coir fiber-reinforced nanocomposite in Shell Eco-Marathon vehicle body application. Shell Eco-Marathon vehicle is designed to be lightweight to improve the efficiency of the vehicle. Coir fiber-reinforced nanocomposite is the combination of coir fiber, silica nanoparticles and epoxy resin as a composite material. The parameters involved in this research include the weight percentage of coir fiber, weight percentage of silica nanoparticles and force applied to the simulated model. The weight percentage of coir fiber in the nanocomposite is varied while the content of silica nanoparticle is fixed in this research. The aim of the research is to study the effect of weight percentage of coir fiber coir reinforced nanocomposite toward von Mises stress, resultant displacement and resultant strain through Solidworks simulation approach. The higher weight percentage of coir fiber can lead to the increase in the tensile strength as tension is involved. There is a close relationship between weight percentage of coir fiber and the strength of the composite.