Utilization of Taguchi Technique to Enhance the Interlaminar Shear Strength of Wood Dust Filled Woven Jute Fiber Reinforced Polyester Composites in Cryogenic Environment

Abstract

ABSTRACT The characteristics of natural fiber reinforced composites such as light weight, non-abrasive, nonflammable, nontoxic, low cost and biodegradable have grabbed the attention of current researchers in the area of composites. The objective of this study is to examine the interlaminar shear strength of the polyester based wood and woven jute hybrid composite. To accomplish this objective, the following parameters such as (i) wood density, (ii) wood weight ratio, (iii) woven jute type, (iv) number of jute layers, (v) cryogenic treatment duration and (vi) alkaline treatment duration, each at three different levels were picked and optimized using the Taguchi method. The fibers were pretreated with 5% of NaOH solution for different length of time to reduce the moisture absorption. The L27 orthogonal array was selected for the chosen parameters and the required composite materials were fabricated using hand lay-up techniques. The fabricated composites were then subjected to cryogenic treatment by immersing in liquid nitrogen at 77 K for different period of time. The interlaminar shear strength of the fabricated hybrid composites was done according to ASTM standard. The morphological features and degree of dispersions of fibers into the matrix of the fabricated hybrid composites were further studied and discussed.