Mechanical properties of banana/kenaf fiber-reinforced hybrid polyester composites: Effect of woven fabric and random orientation

Published Date

5 February 2015, Vol.66:246–257, doi:10.1016/j.matdes.2014.10.067

Title 

Mechanical properties of banana/kenaf fiber-reinforced hybrid polyester composites: Effect of woven fabric and random orientation

• Author 

• A. Alavudeen ^a
• N. Rajini ^a,,
• S. Karthikeyan ^a
• M. Thiruchitrambalam ^b
• N. Venkateshwaren ^c

• aCentre for Composite Materials, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kalasalingam University, Krishnankoil, Virudhunagar 626 126, Tamil Nadu, India
• bDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Ranganathan Engineering College, Coimbatore 641 109, Tamil Nadu, India
• cDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Rajalakshmi Engineering College, Chennai, India

Received 23 August 2014. Accepted 24 October 2014. Available online 30 October 2014.


Highlights

• •
  This paper is presents the fabrications of kenaf/banana fiber hybrid composites.
• •
  Effect of weaving pattern and random orientation on mechanical properties was studied.
• •
  Role of interfacial adhesion due to chemical modifications were analyzed with the aid of SEM.
• •
  Hybridization of kenaf and banana fibers in plain woven composites exhibits maximum mechanical strength.

Abstract

The present work deals with the effect of weaving patterns and random orientatation on the mechanical properties of banana, kenaf and banana/kenaf fiber-reinforced hybrid polyester composites. Composites were prepared using the hand lay-up method with two different weaving patterns, namely, plain and twill type. Of the two weaving patterns, the plain type showed improved tensile properties compared to the twill type in all the fabricated composites. Furthermore, the maximum increase in mechanical strength was observed in the plain woven hybrid composites rather than in randomly oriented composites. This indicates minimum stress development at the interface of composites due to the distribution of load transfer along the fiber direction. Moreover, alkali (NaOH) and sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) treatments appear to provide an additional improvement in mechanical strength through enhanced interfacial bonding. Morphological studies of fractured mechanical testing samples were performed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to understand the de-bonding of fiber/matrix adhesion.

Keywords

• Woven banana fiber
• Kenaf fiber
• Mechanical properties
• Fractrography analysis

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• ⁎ 
  Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 99421 39392; fax: +91 4563 289042.

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