Reinforced Polyester Hybrid Composites Research Articles

Mechanical characterization and study on morphological properties: Natural and agro waste utilization of reinforced polyester hybrid composites

Eco-conscious products are currently garnering significant attention due to their abundant availability and versatile applications in various engineering contexts. The distinctive properties of natural fibers make them readily substitutable for synthetic fibers. A substantial one million tonnes of fiber waste, primarily composed of paddy straw fiber, is generated globally. The research emphasis revolves around the adoption of the Waste to Wealth technique, a highly efficient process aimed at repurposing waste materials. This approach plays a pivotal role in curbing air pollution, specifically by preventing the incineration of the residual portion of paddy straw fiber on agricultural lands. The study involves the collection of paddy straw fiber from agricultural fields, with subsequent extraction facilitated by an extracting machine. Employing a chemical treatment process enhances the adhesion properties between the fiber and matrix. Consequently, comprehensive fiber tests, including the single fiber test, fiber tenacity, and fiber fineness, were meticulously examined for both treated and untreated fibers. The reinforcements and matrix were taken by the weight percentage of 50:50 with different fiber length (25, 50, 75, 100 mm) using the compression moulding machine with 300 mm × 300 mm × 3 mm dimensions. After making the laminates, the samples were cut as per the ASTM standard. The mechanical and morphological behavior of the hybrid fiber-reinforced polyester composites were evaluated, and the water absorption property in the concerned laminates was studied.

Development and characterization study of bagasse with stubble reinforced polyester hybrid composite

In the present day, recycling and reducing environmental pollution are the primary objectives of sustainable development. A lot of experts are considering the possibility of creating a new composite technology with waste materials. This work aims to investigate the effects of waste material on mechanical and hydrophobic properties, with a particular focus on bagasse fiber with stubble. The tensile, flexural, impact, and hardness properties of bagasse with stubble polyester composite were investigated to see if it may be used as a novel material in various engineering applications for a longer life. To improve the impact resistance of the composite, bagasse fibers is mixed in different ratios with polyester and stubble as infill. Additionally, a very tiny amount of TiO2 was added to every sample. Tensile, flexural, and impact mechanical properties were assessed using the Universal Testing Machine, the Rockwell Hardness Testing Machine, and the Izod Impact Test. Samples were hand-set out using varying weight ratios of binder, filler, and fiber. The study's findings demonstrated that the sample with a higher percentage of bagasse fiber demonstrated better mechanical and hydrophobic qualities as compared to the neat and other samples. It is an economical, long-lasting, and environmentally responsible option for a variety of applications.

Fabrication and Characterization of Jute/Human Hair Reinforced Polyester Hybrid Composite

Fibre reinforced composites are used in automotive, defence and structural applications because of their economic and ecological advantage but they have limitation of lower mechanical strength. To balance this limitation of mechanical properties, hybrid composites are being manufactured. In this paper jute and human hair was selected for preparation of jute / human hair reinforced polyester hybrid composite. Human hair was selected because it is non-biodegradable and has high tensile strength. A single human hair can bear 1.5 Newton load. Recently various researcher started work towards development of bio-composites. It has been found that a mechanical property increases after adding hair in hybrid composites. Mechanical properties such as tensile strength, young modulus, and flexural strength were also compared with the already published jute composite results. To understand the fracture behaviour of composite morphology of the fractured surface was done by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The composite application is in environmental conditions addition and thus it is subjected to moisture presence, therefore study of water absorption behaviour of fabricated composite was also studied.

The synergy of fiber surface treatment and nanoclay on the static mechanical and tribological behaviors of Palmyra fruit fiber/Montmorillonite nanoclay reinforced polyester hybrid composites

This research paper aims to present the combined effect of fiber surface chemical treatments and Montmorillonite nanoclay addition on the mechanical and tribological properties of Palmyra fruit fiber reinforced polyester composites. The polyester composite specimens are made of untreated and chemically surface treated Palmyra fruit fiber as primary reinforcement and Montmorillonite nanoclay as secondary reinforcement. The mechanical properties such as tensile, flexural, and impact behaviors and tribological properties such as specific wear rate and coefficient of friction are evaluated. The results are compared with specimens made without Montmorillonite nanoclay. The worn surface morphologies of the wear-tested samples are analyzed through scanning electron microscopic images to study the various wear mechanisms that persisted.

Investigation of mechanical and dynamic mechanical properties of novel Acacia arabica fiber polyester hybrid composites

AbstractThis study investigated the effects of fly ash and wood flour fillers on mechanical and dynamic mechanical properties (DMP) of Acacia arabica fiber (AAF) reinforced polyester hybrid composites. Mechanical properties such as hardness, tensile, flexural and impact strengths were studied. The experimental data of mechanical tests show that wood flour marginally enhanced the bending strength and modulus while fly ash filler performed 17% and 39% increase in hardness and interfacial shear strength of AAF/polyester hybrid composite. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis proves that good adhesion present between the fibers and matrix. Dynamic mechanical properties such as storage modulus (E′), loss modulus (E″), Damping (Tanδ) and glass transition temperature (Tg) of prepared composite samples were investigated using the dynamic mechanical analyzer. The fly ash filler composite has reported 5% increase in the maximum value of Tg while the wood flour showed 17% increase in peak height of Tanδ curve. The experimental results indicated that the AAF with wood flour filler composite has the highest thermal stability and load bearing capacity due to strong adhesion between the fiber, filler and matrix which leads to the formation of superior performing hybrid composites for potential applications in various manufacturing industries.

Tribological and Viscoelastic Behaviour of Jute, Prosopis Juliflora Bark, and Kenaf Fibers Reinforced Polyester Hybrid Composites for Engineering Applications

Utilizing biomaterials for every conceivable purpose area, such as automobiles, sporting goods, medical, civil, and textile industries, is the aim of the research field. Applications of Natural Fiber (NF) reinforced polymer composites in structural and tribological engineering are rapidly expanding. For the first time in this work, Prosopis juliflora bark and two different types of NF (jute and kenaf) were reinforced with polyester matrix by the hand layup method. The objective of the work is to determine the wear performance and viscoelastic properties of the new hybrid bio-composite. Under dry contact conditions, the tribological performance of the proposed hybrid composite material was evaluated using a range of process parameters, including sliding distance (1000-2000 m), applied load (10-50 N), and sliding velocity (1-5 m/s). The wear behaviour of the fabricated NF composite was greatly enhanced (17.5 x10-8 mm3 /N-mm) by the higher composition of kenaf fibers has been observed. The dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) showed that the manufactured composites had high storage modulus (4.1 GPa) and loss modulus (3.8 GPA). SEM was used to investigate and propose a potential wear mechanism for the developed composites by evaluating the exterior geomorphology of samples after wear tests. AFM provided details on the fiber surface properties of hybrid composites.

Tribological and Viscoelastic Behaviour of Jute, Prosopis Juliflora Bark and Kenaf Fibers Reinforced Polyester Hybrid Composites for Engineering Applications

Tribological and Viscoelastic Behaviour of Jute, Prosopis Juliflora Bark and Kenaf Fibers Reinforced Polyester Hybrid Composites for Engineering Applications

Flexural behaviour of jute, glass, and Carbon fibre reinforced Polyester hybrid composites

This study is a part of a project in developing natural fibre reinforced composite for wind turbine blade. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of fibre stacking sequence on flexural behaviour of the natural fibre reinforced composite hybridized with synthetic fibre. The flexural behaviour of the composite becomes an important consideration in deciding stacking sequence of the fibres. Material used in this study is polyester resin as the matrix. Jute, glass, and carbon fibres are used as the reinforcement. The composites were fabricated using vacuum bagging method cured at room temperature. The combinations of fibre as the reinforcement are configured by arrange two and three types of fibre. As a natural fibre, jute exists in all kind of combination. Flexural behaviour was observed using 3-point-bending test. The specimens were tested in accordance to the fibre stacking sequence. The result shows that stacking sequence of the fibres give significant different flexural behaviour regardless the effect of the fibre strength.

Evaluation of Mechanical and Water Absorption Behaviors of Jute/Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polyester Hybrid Composites

ABSTRACT In this work, the influence of hybridizing jute and carbon fibers on the mechanical properties and water absorption behavior of polyester composites was evaluated. The composites were fabricated by using compression molding technique with discrete of overall fiber weight fraction, being pure jute or pure carbon fiber or hybrid. The outcomes of the study revealed that the jute fiber composites have lower mechanical properties and higher water absorption rate when compared with carbon fiber composites. While, the combined effect enhanced the mechanical property (tensile strength of 136.3 MPa, tensile modulus of 3403 MPa, flexural strength of 175.84 MPa, flexural modulus of 9350 MPa and impact strength of 47.43 kJ/m2) and reduced the moisture absorption rate and have good interfacial bonding with polyester which was confirmed in the morphological investigation using scanning electron microscopy. Furthermore, the mechanism of fracture in mechanical-tested samples was observed through scanning electron microscopic images. All the composites developed in the work was followed the Fickian behavior of water absorption.

Mechanical attributes of coir fibre, rice husk and egg shell reinforced hybrid polyester composites

Natural fibre composites (NFC) is made of natural resources possesses environmentally beneficial attributes such as environment friendly and biodegradability. The mechanical attributes of coir fibre, rice husk and boiled egg shell are reinforced polyester hybrid composites were examined first time. The composites were fabricated with various weight percentages of coir fibre, rice husk and egg shell reinforced polyester resin through hand lay-up method. The mechanical tests results showed that the 40% coir fibre + 48% Epoxy resin + 12% (Egg shell powder and Rice husk) filler enhanced the overall tensile, flexural and impact strength of the composites compared with unreinforced sample. This type of composites can be useful for automobile and civil engineering domains.

Experimental investigation of physical and mechanical behaviour of broom grass root and glass fiber reiforced hybrid composites

The present work consists the use of plant fiber in the development of broom grass root and glass fiber reinforced polyester hybrid composites. The natural fiber is extracted from broom grass plant roots. Hand layup technique was used for fabrication of hybrid composite specimens. The composite test specimens were fabricated according to the ASTM standards. Total nine test samples are prepared with different combinations of fiber reinforcements. The influence of fiber content on the physical and mechanical performance such as density, water absorption, tensile strength, tensile modulus, impact energy, and hardness of the hybrid composites was evaluated. The experimental results were analyzed and it shows that the fiber composition 15% Broom Grass Root and 5 wt% of glass fiber compared with other fiber compositions shows higher tensile strength, tensile stress and tensile modulus. However, for 15% of Broom Grass Root and 5 wt% of glass fiber composite specimen shows maximum tensile strength, tensile modulus and hardness. The physical properties such as density, void content and water absorption percentage of hybrid composites increases with the fiber content.

Influence of Nano-Silica on Enhancing the Mechanical Properties of Sisal/Kevlar Fiber Reinforced Polyester Hybrid Composites

In the fabrication of Sisal/Kevlar/Nano-silica reinforced polyester composites, the ultrasonic vibration was used in mixing the Nano-silica in polyester resin in which ultrasonic frequency of 15 kHz and with an 800 W power capacity was used. For uniform mixing of the nanoparticle in resin, an Ultrasonic probe was used. The Mechanical Properties of Sisal/Kevlar fiber, which are in mat form reinforced with polyester/Nano-silica, have been characterized. These composites have been fabricated using hand lay-up techniques by different wt.% of Nano Silica and different stacking sequences of fiber. The different wt.% are 2, 4, and 6 wt.%, and different stacking sequences are KSKS, SKKS, KSSK. The impact of the sonication effect on the mechanical properties was examined and compared. The addition of 4 wt% of Nano-silica in KSSK reported an increase of 23% of tensile strength, and 36% of flexural strength was observed. In KSKS, hybrid composites due to 4 wt.% silica addition 33% in tensile strength and 37% of flexural strength increases are found. The maximum tensile strength is obtained at 4 wt.% of Nano silica-reinforced with polyester with the stacking sequence KSSK and maximum flexural strength at 4 wt.% of Nano- silica with the stacking sequence KSKS. SEM analysis is also carried for the tested samples for failure analysis.

Production and characterization of bamboo and sisal fiber reinforced hybrid composite for interior automotive body application

Composite materials have high strength to weight ratio with low density and high stiffness to weight, high strength ratios, and high fatigue strength to weight ratio compared to traditional engineering materials making them find wide applications in structural constructions. When the lightweight composite materials which are made of lightweight natural fibres are used in automotive application, the fuel economy of the vehicle improves reducing the related harmful emissions. The aim of this research is to develop and characterize the performance of sisal and bamboo reinforced polyester hybrid composite (BSFRHC) with different fibre orientation of sisal and unidirectional (UD) bamboo fibre. Next, BSFRHC was fabricated with 20% total fibre volume fraction. Of this total fibre volume, the composite is fabricated in 3:1 bamboo to sisal fibre ratio using hand lay-up technique. Then tensile, compressive, impact and flexural tests were carried out. In general, it is concluded that as varying fiber orientation, the tensile strength varies. The higher tensile strength is observed with 0° fibre orientation of bamboo/sisal fiber reinforced hybrid composite. From compressive strength of the hybrid composite reinforced with bamboo/sisal fibre, it is observed that the 0°-fibre orientation composite is exhibiting higher compressive strength than 90° fibre orientation composite and bidirectional (0°/90°) fibre orientation composite. Unidirectional 90° fibre orientation was found to have a higher tensile and flexural strength whereas unidirectional 90° and bidirectional (0°/90°) fibre orientation nearly have the same value of tensile strength, whereas bidirectional (0°/90°) was found to be having higher flexural strength than unidirectional 90° fibre orientation. Impact analysis of vehicle internal door panel made of BSFRHC was done using ANSYS Software. Furthermore, it is found that the bamboo and sisal fibre reinforced hybrid composite in unidirectional 0° has the potential to be used for automotive interior part application.

Influence of moisture absorption on mechanical properties of kenaf/glass reinforced polyester hybrid composite

The heightened focus on manufacturing of green composites for engineering application and research field, the natural fiber has gained its importance. In the other hand, the hydrophilicity behaviour of natural fiber is a matter of grave concern for their potential outdoor applications. Hence the objective of this work is to study the moisture sorption behaviour of kenaf/glass polyester hybrid composite with diverse stacking sequences in general water medium and its repercussion on mechanical properties. Moisture absorption test was performed by soaking the composite at room temperature into normal water for 20 days. The distinctive parameters such as diffusion coefficient (Dx), moisture content at equilibrium (Mm) and mechanism of water transport were determined. The mechanism of water transport into the hybrid composite was found to follow Fickian’s diffusion. The repercussions of the water sorption on the tensile and bending strength of laminates were investigated. The strengths were found to be decreased with increase in rate of water intake and also the position of kenaf fibre stalk at the outer layer.

An Investigation into the Tribological Properties of Bidirectional Jute/Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polyester Hybrid Composites

ABSTRACT In this work, the tribological performance of bidirectional jute/carbon fiber reinforced polyester composites was investigated using response surface methodology. The effects of three factors namely fiber weight fraction, load, and sliding velocity on the wear and friction values were examined. The composites were fabricated by using compression molding technique and the dry sliding test was conducted using pin-on-disk machine. The response surface methodology coupled with three factors – three-level Box-Behnken design was employed to examine the interactive effects of process variables on wear loss and coefficient of friction. Moreover, Analysis of Variance technique was used to inspect the statistical significance of the developed model. The outcomes revealed that the wear loss increased with the increase in sliding velocity and load and decreased with the increase in weight volume fraction due to diminishing contact between the polyester matrix and rotating disk. However, the coefficient of friction decreased with the increase in process variables. Furthermore, the morphology of worn-out samples was examined using scanning electron microscopy to understand wear mechanisms.

Study of mechanical and thermal behaviours of zea-coir hybrid polyester composites

The current investigation is to develop the Zea-Coir (ZC) fibers reinforced polyester hybrid composite using a compression sheet molding process. Hybrid composites made with naturally available fibers are finding applications in many of the engineering fields due to their low cost and strong nature of the natural fibers. The composites were manufactured with polyester resin and Zea-Coir fibers were used at a ratio of 60:40 (by volume) with five different proportions of Zea-Coir natural fiber. The mechanical and thermal behaviors of Zea-Coir hybrid composite were analyses by tensile, flexural, impact strength and DSC synthesis. The highest tensile strength value of 25.4 MPa, the flexural strength value of 34.6 MPa and the impact strength value of 45.3 kJ/mm2 were obtained from Zea-Coir reinforced polyester hybrid composite.

Study of Mechanical and Tribological Properties of Carbon-Jute Reinforced Polyester Hybrid Composites

The effect of the fiber orientation of thermosetting polyester resin with carbon and jute fiber-a natural polymer hybrid composite has been investigated by experiments. The tensile, flexural, impact, hardness, specific gravity and three body wear tests. The natural polymer hybrid composite is developed by the traditional method of fabricating the composite i.e. by hand lay-up technique. The proportion by weight of fibers and resin are kept constant, while varying the fiber orientation. The laminates are kept for curing at room temperature condition. Specimens are developed according to ASTM standards. Experimental results showed that hybridization of the composite with natural and synthetic fibers shows enhanced mechanical properties. The content of natural reinforcements is 60% in the developed hybrid composite. The effect of untreated jute placed at different fiber orientation has significant effect on the flexural, impact, hardness and specific gravity properties than tensile properties. The wear property has shown good resistance if the presence of carbon fiber. An overall comparison between the properties of the developed natural polymer hybrid composite revealed that the presence of carbon fiber woven mat on both the sides of the composite has played the critical role by balancing the properties and reducing the overall cost

Processing and Evaluation of Mechanical Properties of Coconut Coir and Rice Husk Reinforced Natural Hybrid Composites

Over the last decades composite materials, plastics and ceramics have been the dominant emerging materials. The volume and number of applications of composite materials have grown steadily, penetrating and conquering new markets relentlessly. So everybody is concentrating on new materials which will be strong enough, less weight, recyclable with reduced cost. Hence all the researchers are concentrated on the composite materials which have all the above properties. The present work is concentrated on coconut coir fiber and Rice husk reinforced polyester hybrid composites. The composites specimen was fabricated with various weight percentages of natural fibers namely coconut coir (20%, 15%, 10%, and 5%) and Rice husk (15%, 10%, and 5%) combined with CamElect 3321 resin using hand lay-up method. So to obtain new composite materials different proportions of coconut coir and Rice husk is added and the mechanical properties such as Tensile strength, Flexural Strength and Impact test were carried out for the samples cut from the fabricated composites specimen to the dimensions as per ASTM standard. With the increasing percentage of the reinforcements the performance of the material is improving. The tensile strength increases with the increase in coir reinforcement percentage and flexural strength increases with the increasing in percentage of the rice husk and the impact strength of the material gets boost with equal proportional percentage of coconut coir and rice husk reinforcement.

Mechanical and morphological characterization of carbonized egg-shell fillers/Borassus fibre reinforced polyester hybrid composites

In this study, mechanical characteristics of Borassus flabellifer fruit fibre reinforced polyester composites with varying weight percentages of the carbonized eggshell bio-fillers were analyzed for its tensile, flexural and impact strength. To establish the success of carbonization of egg-shell, Energy Dispersive x-ray Spectroscopy analysis was carried out. The fibres were initially treated with sodium hydroxide for duration of 1 h, 2 h and 3 h and were later treated with potassium permanganate. Tensile strength of treated fibres were determined and compared with untreated fibres. The fibre with the highest strength was selected as reinforcement for the composites. Scanning Electron Microscope was used to evaluate the changes on the surface of fibres due to the chemical treatment. Composites fabricated were tested for its mechanical properties. Results show that the addition of bio-filler had a positive effect on the mechanical properties of the composites till a certain proportion of bio-filler after which it dropped. The fractured surface was analysed using a Scanning Electron Microscope to understand the various modes of failure.

Tribological Characteristics of Natural Fiber Reinforced Polyester Hybrid Composites

In order to investigate the wear behavior and tooth damage of Madar and Bauhinia Racemosa fibers reinforced polyester, the composite gears were fabricated with varying the fiber weight percentages of 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%. This paper explores the rolling and sliding of the composite gears running against nylon gear with a simplified method of analyzing and understanding the wear and tooth damage. Tests were conducted without external lubrication over a range of loads 4Nm, 8Nm,12Nm and 16Nm using a gear test rig. The test results of composite gears are compared with unreinforced polyester gear (URPE). It was found that the surface temperature was the primary factor affecting the wear rate and an initial relationship between gear surface temperature and load capacity. This composite can be useful for automobile and industrial applications.