Preparation and Mechanical Characterization of Jute-PP and Coir-PP Bio-Composites

Abstract

Polymers reinforced with synthetic fibers such as glass and carbon offer advantages of high stiffness and strength to weight ratio compared to conventional materials. Despite these advantages, the prevalent use of synthetic fiber-reinforced polymer composite has a tendency to demur because of high initial cost and most importantly their adverse environmental impact. On the contrary, the increased interest in using natural fibers as reinforcement in plastics to substitute conventional synthetic fibers in automobile applications has become one of the main concerns to study the potential of using natural fibers as reinforcement for polymers. In this regard, an investigative study has been carried out to make potential utilization of natural fibers such as Jute and Coir as reinforcements, which are cheap and abundantly available in India. The objective of the present research work is to study the effects of fiber loading and particle size; fiber loading and fiber length on the mechanical properties of Jute-PP and Coir-PP bio-composites respectively. The experiments were planned as per full factorial design (FFD) and response surface methodology (RSM) based second order mathematical models of mechanical properties have been developed. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) has been employed to check the adequacy of the developed models. From the parametric analysis, it is revealed that Jute-PP bio-composites exhibit better mechanical properties when compared to Coir-PP bio-composites.