Evaluation of Mechanical Properties and Microstructure of Polyester and Epoxy Resin Matrices Reinforced with Jute, E-glass and coconut Fiber

Abstract

Composite manufacturing is a novel branch of science and often finds numerous applications in several industries. Some of them are sport, automobile, aerospace and marine industries. Some of the properties that can be highlighted are good mechanical properties along with stiffness and comparatively lighter weight. There is a continuous research in this area is as the constant pursuit to achieve greater performance by changing various materials and the combinations of those with various resins are experimented. In the current work, polyester and epoxy resins were reinforced with coconut, E-glass and jute fibers of 5-6mm length and were prepared by hand layup method. The fiber and resin were taken in 18:82 weight percentages. Post production of the composites they were subjected to various physical mechanical and microstructural studies to determine various properties. The morphological features were analyzed through the microstructural study done through scanning electron microscope. In comparison with the composites manufactured, The artificial fiber reinforced composite, E-glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites exhibited superior tensile strength, flexural strength, impact toughness and hardness values. Among the natural fiber reinforced composite, coconut fiber reinforced composites exhibited better tensile, impact and hardness than its counterpart jute reinforced composites. Thus the resins reinforced with E-glass fiber had the highest mechanical properties when compared with jute fiber reinforced composites (JFRC) and coconut fiber reinforced composites (CFRC). The cost effectiveness of the natural fiber reinforced composites is also an added advantage over the artificial fiber reinforced composites.