Characterization of Banana and Bagasse Fiber-Reinforced Hybrid Epoxy Composites

Abstract

In this work, banana and bagasse fibers have been taken as reinforcement material because of its ease of availability and low cost. Initially, the density of the fibers are found using water displacement method. The fibers were treated by NaOH and NaCl solution of 5% concentration for good adhesion property. These are reinforced with the epoxy with Hardener—HY 951. The 20 and 30% of volume fraction of banana and bagasse fibers of equal proportions are taken for fabrication using hand lay-up method for the dimension 300 * 300 mm². Change in the volume fraction of FRC’s changes the value of young’s modulus by making the material more stiffer. The testing was carried out by the computer-integrated universal testing machine (UTM), which has the capacity of 100KN Kalpak software is used for the data acquisition the testing. The specimen is cut into as per ASTM D-3039 and ASTM D-790 standards for tensile test and flexural bending test, respectively. Tensile test and flexural bending tests are conducted on 20 and 30% of volume fraction of fibers (banana and bagasse). Results of tensile test and flexural bending test are obtained experimentally and compared each other, results reveal that fibers of 30% volume fraction make material stiffer and in turn increases the elasticity and UTS.