Flexural Strength Analysis of Starch Based Biodegradable Composite Using Areca Frond Fibre Reinforcement

Srinivas Shenoy Heckadka,Satish Shenoy Beloor,Sathish Rao Udupi,Raghuvir Pai Ballambat,Ullal Achutha Kini,Manjeshwar Vijaya Kini

doi:10.1155/2014/769012

Abstract

Natural fibres and biodegradable matrices are being considered nowadays as substitutes to synthetic fibre reinforced polymer composites mainly in sectors where high load carrying capacity and high strength are not prerequisites. Present study utilizes biodegradable matrix composite prepared by varying the weight of the base material (95–170 g), binder (5–10 g), and plasticizer (5–20 g) with treated areca frond fibres as reinforcement. Contents are transferred to a pneumatic press, compacted, and subjected to curing. Taguchi method with L8 orthogonal array was used to reduce the number of experiments. Specimens for the flexural tests are cut out from the prepared laminates and tests are performed using UTM. Maximum flexural strength of 16.97 MPa was obtained with a combination of base (170 g), binder (10 g), and plasticizer (5 g). Analysis of the results indicated that plasticizer has the maximum effect on flexural strength of the biodegradable composites.

Highlights

Natural fibre polymer composites are fabricated by using traditional manufacturing techniques which are designed for conventional fibre reinforced polymer composites and thermoplastics
These techniques include resin transfer moulding, vacuum infusion, compression moulding, direct extrusion, compounding, and injection moulding [6]. Techniques such as compression moulding and hand layup methods have been successfully used for producing biodegradable composites with controllable quality
Ranking obtained by Taguchi method points out that plasticizer is ranked 1 followed by binder and base material

Summary

Introduction

Natural fibre polymer composites are fabricated by using traditional manufacturing techniques which are designed for conventional fibre reinforced polymer composites and thermoplastics. These techniques include resin transfer moulding, vacuum infusion, compression moulding, direct extrusion, compounding, and injection moulding [6]. Techniques such as compression moulding and hand layup methods have been successfully used for producing biodegradable composites with controllable quality. Anuar and Zuraida evaluated the improvement in mechanical properties of kenaf bast fibre reinforced thermoplastic elastomer composite using compression moulding technique [9]. Level 2 +1 +1 +1 a performance metric is the most effective in finding an optimal solution for multiple response problems [13]

Experimental Details

12 Signal-to-noise: larger is better

Results and Discussion

Conclusions