Fabrication and bend testing of DHAK fiber composites

Abstract

In the current work, composite specimens were fabricated using DHAK fiber up to a maximum volume fraction of about 0.188. The retting and manual processes have been used to extract the fibers. Density of DHAK is found to be 1098.5 Kg/m3. The bend properties of the composites were examined as a function of fiber content. It is found that the bend strength of the composite increases with an increase in fiber content up to 0.15 vol fraction and thereafter decreases. It has been observed that the maximum mean bend strength of the composite is 223.54 MPa for the volume fraction 0.15 which is about 3.15 times greater than that of resin. The maximum mean flexural modulus of the composite is calculated as 3.88 GPa for volume fraction 0.15, which is about 2.62 times higher than that of a base resin. These results show that there could exist a strong solid bond between the fiber and resin at the volume fraction of 0.15. It has been concluded that incorporating DHAK fiber in a base resin leads to higher bend strength as well as modulus of a new formulated composite material.