Synthesis and Characterization of Epoxy Resin Reinforced with Luffa Fiber Composites for Sound Absorption

Abstract

Now a day’s sustainable development becomes an increasingly significant goal in the evaluation and promotion of Industries. There is currently considerable interest in developing sustainable acoustic absorbers. This research aims to develop and characterize composite materials made of Epoxy resin reinforced with luffa fibres as sustainable acoustic absorbers. The fibres where chemically modified by alkaline treatment and its effects on the fibre-matrix interaction were also evaluated. The effect of chemical modification on fibre morphology was studied by Scanning electron microscope (SEM). Likewise, the sound absorption coefficient of composites were studied using 2 types of Impedance tube methods namely Two microphone transfer function and standing wave method. The thermal analyses of composites were made using Thermogravimetric analysis. The sound absorption coefficient of untreated and treated composites across a range of frequencies was very similar. To be more specific, untreated composites appeared to perform better than those of treated ones. After chemical modifications, the SEM characterization showed that the alkaline treatment changed the morphology of fibers, resulting in decrease in sound absorption coefficients of composites. This is probably due to the new morphological aspect. The thermal characterization of composites shows that dehydration and degradation of lignin occurred around 40 - 260°C and maximum percentage cellulose was found to decompose at 380°C.