Thermo-mechanical and morphological characterization of needle punched non-woven banana fiber reinforced polymer composites

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to employ a novel technique for the fabrication of natural fiber reinforced polymer composites that could stand toe to toe with glass fiber composites in terms of thermo-mechanical properties without any chemical treatment. The reinforcement fibers were extracted from the pseudostem of the nendran banana plant. Later a non-woven fabric composite consisting of banana fibers reinforced with unsaturated polyester (UPE) matrix was fabricated using the needle punching technique. Composite specimens were subjected to tensile, flexural, hardness, quasi-static indentation (QSI) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) test for evaluating mechanical properties. However, the optimal properties was achieved at 40 wt% fiber content with an increase in tensile and flexural strength of 36% and 33% for needle-punched banana fiber composites (NPBFC) compared with random banana fiber composites (RBFC) respectively. It was also evidenced from the load bearing capacity and hardness of NPBFC having 2420 N and 87 HRRW, proves its superiority over RBFC and comparable with RGFC. Further, the viscoelastic properties of UPE and NPBFC were analyzed. Subsequently, the characteristic bonds of cellulose were represented through infra-red spectroscopy and the crystallinity index was exposed through X-ray diffraction analysis. In addition, thermal analysis was done and the stability of the optimized NPBFC witnessed was up to 260 °C. Also, morphology-properties correlation was established. Finally, the experimental results were validated using theoretical models. This study concludes that the synthesized novel NPBFC endorses its potentiality as a probable reinforcement in industrial safety helmet, automotive door panel and light weight structural applications.