Study on morphological and mechanical properties on treated and untreated veldt grape/PLA composites

Abstract

Composite materials made up of natural fiber have gained more importance in automobile industries due to their lightweight, non-abrasive properties, fair cost, and environmental friendliness. The chemical treatment on the fiber surface enhances the individual fiber mechanical property which leads to the same benefits in the composite preparation too. In this study, an attempt was carried out to analyze the chemical treated composite over untreated composite. The reinforcement fiber veldt grape and matrix resin polylactic acid was chosen for composite preparation. By the two roll mill followed by compression molding technique the untreated and chemical treated composites were prepared. The mechanical properties tensile, flexural, impact, water absorption tests were performed on untreated and chemical-treated composites. The morphological analysis was performed on both untreated and chemical-treated fiber composites by scanning electron microscope. The chemical-treated composite is observed to have considerably increased favorable mechanical properties than the untreated fiber composite. The morphology of the chemical-treated fiber composite is seen to have superior interaction with the fiber matrix.