Reprint ISSN 0975-7074
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International J.of Multidispl.Research & Advcs. in Engg.(IJMRAE), ISSN 0975-7074, Vol. 5, No. II (April 2013), pp. 171-180
STUDY OF MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL BEHAVIOR OF CHEMICALLY TREATED COIR FIBRE
REINFORCED EPOXY COMPOSITES
ALVEERA KHAN1, M. AYAZ AHMAD2, SHRISH JOSHI1 AND A. M. ABD EL-KHALEK2
1 Physics Department, Government MVM College Bhopal – 462001, India 2 Physics Department, College of Science, University of Tabuk – 71491,
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Abstract
In this paper an attempt has been made to study some mechanical and electrical properties of a
proposed composite polymer i.e. resin coconut fibres (which is identified as coir fibres). A volumetric
amount of coir fibre up to ≈ 15% was made-up and also it was arranged in arbitrarily oriented
discontinues fashion. In order to measure the mechanical characteristics on the coir fibre composite
due to the chemical treatment (Fe(NO3)3 and NH4Cl salts) various characterising tools such as SEM
and XRD are carried out to determine the strength of material. Finally, it was observed that the effects
of reinforcing epoxy matrix with the chemically treated coir fibres caused the composites to be more
rigid and not easy to deform due to high strain values and reduction of high resonant amplitude.
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Keywords : Natural coconut / coir fibres, SEM, and polymer composites.
PACS number: 84.37.+q, 72.80.Tm © http: //www.ascent-journals.com
172 ALVEERA KHAN, M. AYAZ AHMAD, SHRISH JOSHI AND A. M. ABD EL-KHALEK
1. INTRODUCTION
Natural fibres such as sisal, jute, coconut / coir, oil palm, flax, hemp, sun-hemp, ramie, kenaf
e.t.c. simply can be found in many tropical regions and are available throughout the world.
Today these fibres are careful as environment gracious materials owing to their
biodegradability and renewable characteristics. All natural fibres have been proved to be
good reinforcement in thermoset and thermoplastic matrices [1-4]. Nowadays, the use of
natural fibres reinforced composites is gaining popularity in automotive, cosmetic, and
plastic applications because it offers an economical and environmental advantage over
traditional inorganic reinforcements and fillers [5].
Here a study has been made in probing for such new material; by using coconut fibre (also
known as coir fibre) and also is compounded with composite material. Coir is the natural
fibre of the coconut husk where it is a thick and coarse but durable fibre. It is relatively
water-proof and has resistant to spoil by salt water and microbial degradation [6, 7]. An
outlook of skull of the coconut (natural fibre) has been depicted in Fig. 1, which can be used
as a source of fibre and coir pitch. For now, the investigation of the mechanical properties
and dynamic characteristics of the coir fibre reinforced epoxy composites is very important.
The use of coir fibre reinforced composites is essential in the industrial automotive where it
used to make seat cushions for Mercedes automobiles. Even though it has profitable
properties, the coir fibre composites still have some undesirable properties such as
dimensional instability, flammability which are not suitable for high temperature application
and degradability with humidity, ultraviolet lights, acids and bases [8, 9] (Brahim & Cheikh
2006). Therefore, a lot of efforts have been carried out to improve the performance of coir
fibre reinforced composites.
In this paper we have deliberate some characterization and performance of natural fibre
reinforced composite by analyzing the effect of fibre volume (%) on the composite
mechanical properties. The composites were obtained by compounding epoxy matrix and
coir fibres in a batch mixer to obtain a randomly oriented discontinue form. The selection of
epoxy as a matrix is based on economic interest because it offers a very cheap resin,
available with good mechanical properties and used in many purpose such as transport,
marine and sport.
STUDY OF MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL BEHAVIOR… 173
Figure 1 : An outlook of skull of the coir fibre (Natural fibre)
2. EXPERIMENT PERFORMANCE
The present experimental work has been performed as given in a flow chart. This flow chart
has been shown in Fig.2. The more details can be seen in our recent contribution submitted
by auothrs Alveera Khan et. al., to the journal of Mathematical Sciences International
Research Journal, ISSN 2278-8697-2013 [10].
174 ALVEERA KHAN, M. AYAZ AHMAD, SHRISH JOSHI AND A. M. ABD EL-KHALEK
Figure. 2 A flow chart for the performance of present experimental work.
3. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
3.1 Scanning Electron Microscopy Analysis
The microscopy views have been taken out by SEM and are pictorially depicted in Fig. 3(a-
c). The description of this figure is as; (a) view for single time magnification by SEM for
chemically treated coir fibre (b), view of untreated coir fibre (c) for chemically treated coir
fibre reinforced epoxy composite. From these figures we have found that the treatment has
improved the surface roughness of the coir fibre when compared with untreated coir fibre.
This may be due to the lessening of fibre diameter which increases the feature ratio; thereby
developing a rough surface. Due to the elimination of the surface impurities and cementing
(a)
YES
Electrical properties obtained by Wayne Kerr impedance analyzer (65120B series for 20Hz - 120MHz)
Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) Analysis
Processing of coir fibre
Chemical treatment of coir fibre by Fe(NO3)3 and NH4Cl salts in ratio of 10:4 byannea with 500 ml of distilled water
Mixing of chemically treated coir fibre with epoxy resin and hardener in the ratio 1 : 1 : 1 (treated fibre : epoxy resin : hardener).Preparing specimen according to standard model
START
YES
Data analysis and plotting graph
END
YES NO
NO
NO
NO Success
YES
Success
STUDY OF MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL BEHAVIOR… 175
materials like lignin and hemi-cellulose it can be found that separation of the definitive cells
has increased which show the way to boost up the surface area of the coir fibre so it becomes
more compatible with the matrix. It is also confirmed from the Fig. 3 (a and b) that the
adhesion between the fibre and matrix is poor in the raw coir fibre composite, as there are
gap around the fibre at the interface whereas, in the chemically treated composite, the fibre
matrix adhesion has been increased which is shown by fibre splintering rather than fibre
pullout in Fig. 3 (c). Similar behaviour has been found by other workers on SEM [11, 12].
Figure 3 : Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) investigations for (a) chemically treated coir
fibre (b) untreated coir fibre (c) chemically treated coir fibre reinforced epoxy composite epoxy-
fibre reinforced polymer composite (c).
(b) (a)
(c)
176 ALVEERA KHAN, M. AYAZ AHMAD, SHRISH JOSHI AND A. M. ABD EL-KHALEK
3.2 Flexural Strength Behavior
We have studied flexural strength behaviour for the pure epoxy composite and epoxy-fibre
reinforced polymer composite by UTM machine. This behavior for the above mentioned
fibres is shown in Fig. 4. From this figure it is evident that the strength of epoxy-fibre
reinforced polymer composite is found to be slightly higher than the pure epoxy composite.
It is also well recognized for reinforced polymer composites, that the interfacial zone
governs an important role in transferring the load between the fibre and matrix which
subsequently affect the mechanical properties such as strength. As we know that flexural
failure [13] depends mostly on the fibre and matrix adhesion, an increase the value of
flexural strength in chemically treated composite may be due to the increase in the efficient
surface area available for contact with the matrix [11, 14].
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Epoxy fibre reinforcedChemical treatedcoir fibre
flexu
ral s
tren
gth
Figure 4 : Flexural strength behavior of chemically treated coir fibre
and epoxy-fibre reinforced polymer composite.
3.3 Electrical Properties
The electrical properties such as capacitative behavior (in pF) and dissipation factor, tanδ, (in
au) have been studied by using Wayne Kerr impedance analyzer [15] with measurement
STUDY OF MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL BEHAVIOR… 177
accuracy up to ± 0.05%. The instrumental precision of impedance analyzing is within the
limit of 0 to + 40V dc (potential difference) and 0 to +100mA dc bias (electric current), multi
measurement mode, and equivalent circuit analysis option [15]. The test samples (present
work) were fixed between two electrodes and kept inside the sample holder. Two sets of
measurements for capacitative behavior and dissipative factor were carried out; from room
temperature around 300C to 2500C at two frequencies 1000 Hz and 5000 Hz with a heating
rate of 20C/min.
In order to get the mathematical values, we have used the following relations
(1)
(2)
where symbols represent their usual conventional value. Other properties of the composite
have been discussed at length elsewhere.
The dependence of capacitative behavior and dissipation factor (tanδ) on various
temperatures has been plotted graphically and has been shown in Figs. 5 to 6. From these
figures, it is evident that higher values of capacitance and dissipation factor at the lower
order of range of frequency, which is may be due to interfacial polarization.
0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240
10
20
30
Cap
acit
ance
(p
F)
Temperature (0C)
Frequency 1000 Hz 5000 Hz
Figure 5 : Behavior of Capacitance (pF) on temperature for frequency 1000 Hz and 5000 Hz.
178 ALVEERA KHAN, M. AYAZ AHMAD, SHRISH JOSHI AND A. M. ABD EL-KHALEK
40 80 120 160 200 240
0
2
4
6
8
tan
δδ δδ
Temperature (0C)
Frequency 1000 Hz 5000 Hz
Figure 6 : Dependence of dissipation factor (tanδδδδ), (in au) on temperature for frequency 1000
Hz and 5000 Hz.
Further, it is also clear from the above figures that the capacitance as well as the ‘tanδ’
values are first found to decrease with rise in temperature up to 40°C and then the values of
both the above factors are slightly increased approximate linearly for both the order of
frequencies. Similar results are also reported by various polymer physicists [16, 17]. These
results may facilitate to maintain the electric charges over a longer time period and also can
be browbeaten for antistatic applications.
4. SUMMERY AND CONCLUSIONS
On behalf of experimental investigation of mechanical behaviour of coir reinforced epoxy
composites one can the following conclusions:
* In the present work the flexural behaviour and electrical properties has been studied and
we have find a good agreements with the other’s worker.
* This work shows that successful fabrication of a coir fibre reinforced epoxy composites
with different fibre lengths is possible by simple hand lay-up technique.
(a)
STUDY OF MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL BEHAVIOR… 179
* It has been noticed that the mechanical properties of the composites such as micro-
hardness, flexural strength etc. of the composites are also greatly influenced by the fibre
loading.
ACKNOWLEGEMENT
The authors (M. Ayaz Ahmad and A. M. Abd El-Khalek) are highly grateful to Vice
Presidency for Graduate / Studies and Scientific Research at University of Tabuk, and
Ministry of Higher Education, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the kind financial assistance.
REFERENCES
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[2] Joseph, K., Thomas, S., Pavithran, C., Effect of chemical treatment on the tensile properties of short sisal fiber-reinforced polyethylene composites, Polymer, 37, pp. 5139^15, 1996.
[3] Sreekala, M.S., Kumaran, M.G., Thomas, S., Oil palm fibers: morphology, chemical composition, surface modification and mechanical properties, Journal Applied Polymer Sci; 66, pp. 8-821, 1997.
[4] Geethamma, V.G., Mathew, K.T., Lakshmnarayanan, R. & Thomas, S., Composite of short coir fibers and natural rubber: effect of chemical modification, loading and orientation of fiber, Polymer, 39, pp. 1483, 1998.
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[9] Brahim, S.B., Cheikh, R. B., Influence of Fibre Orientation and Volume Fraction on the Tensile Properties of Unidirectional Alfa-Polyester Composite, Composites Science and Technology, 2006.
[10] Alveera K., Ayaz M. A., Shrish J., Abd El-Khalek A. M., Synthesis and characterization of chemically treated fibre and its reinforced epoxy polymer composites, Paper submitted to conference “International Conference on Mathematics (ICM-2013)” to be held at Kochi, Kerala, India from August 9-10, 2013.
[11] Sushree Sangita Mullick, Master thesis entitled “Fabrication and charecterization of natural fibre reinforced polymer composites” at NIT, Rourkela, 2012.
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180 ALVEERA KHAN, M. AYAZ AHMAD, SHRISH JOSHI AND A. M. ABD EL-KHALEK
[13] Harish S, Michael D. P, Bansely A, Mohan Lal D. and Rajadurai A, “Mechanical property evaluation of natural fiber co ir composite”, Materials characterization, 60, pp. 44-49, 2009.
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