Abstract
ABSTRACT Natural fiber composites are the recent upcoming materials used in structural and other general engineering applications. They are more popular because of their biodegradability, lightweight, more strength-to-weight ratio, easy availability, eco-friendliness, and sustainable material features. But natural fibers are available in the form of dust particles, hemicellulose, lignin, and other waste substances, due to the existence of these particles strength and internal bonding could vary. To improve strength and contact area between fabric/matrix, chemical treatment is very much necessary. In the present work, plain woven banana fabrics (PWBFs)/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) biodegradable composites were prepared to understand the effect of potassium permanganate (KMnO4) solution with 0.5, 1, 2, 3, and 4% concentrations for 4 hours, test samples were fabricated by using hand lay-up method as per ASTM standards, tested for dynamic mechanical analysis. From the experimental results, it was observed that 1% KMnO4-treated composite got the best results as compared to untreated and other sets of treated composites. Hence for further analysis, biodegradability and water absorption analysis were carried out for a duration of 60 days, from experimental results it was noticed that KMnO4 treated composites required more time to completely biodegradable in normal soil and increases the surface roughness as well as decreased the water absorption.
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