EXPERIMENTAL & NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF BANANA AND GLASS FIBER REINFORCED EPOXY BASED HYBRID COMPOSITES Ajay Verma 1, Niladri Sarkar 2*, Aneesh Somwanshi 3 1 Associate Professor, Mechanical Department, Shri Shankaracharya Group of Institutions (FET), Junwani, Bhilai, Distt. Durg, Chhattisgarh- 490020, India 2 PG Student, Mechanical Department, Shri Shankaracharya Group of Institutions (FET), Junwani, Bhilai, Distt. Durg, Chhattisgarh- 490020, India 3 Associate Professor, Mechanical Department, MATS University, Aarang, Raipur, Chattisgarh- 493441, India ABSTRACT Fiber reinforced polymer composites has been used in a variety of application because of their many advantages such as low cost of production, easy to fabricate and superior as compared to neat polymer resins. Reinforcement in polymer is either synthetic or natural, synthetic fiber such as glass, carbon etc. have high specific but their fields of application are limited due to higher cost of production. Recently there is an increasing interest in natural fiber based composites due to their many advantages. In this connection an investigation has been carried out to make better utilization of banana fiber for making value added products. The objective of the present research work is to fabricate, characterized and study the mechanical behavior of banana/glass fiber reinforced epoxy based hybrid composites. The effect of banana and loading glass fiber on mechanical properties like tensile, flexural and hardness of composites have been investigated experimentally. The study shows that the tensile, flexural and hardness increases as the fiber loading in the composite increases. Results showed that, tensile, flexural and hardness are maximum for composition C4 (75 wt% Epoxy + 12.5 wt% Banana fiber + 12.5 wt% Glass fiber). The value of maximum tensile, flexural and hardness are 25.11 MPa, 61.962 MPa and 85.783 Shore D respectively. FEM has been also used for modeling and analysis. The experimental and simulated results have been compared. Results are validated by FEM using ANSYS software. The deviations in experimental and analytical results are within the limit. Both
the analysis shows 26.75%, 6.59%, 7.22% and 9.77% deviation in the experimental and analytical tensile test and 12.40%, 5.28%, 5.01% and 2.93% deviation in the experimental and analytical flexural test for sample C1, C2, C3 and C4 respectively. Crystallography nature of composites is determined by XRD analysis. Also, the surface morphology of fractured surfaces after tensile testing is examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Keywords: Banana fibers (BF), Glass fiber, Epoxy, tensile and flexural test, SEM, XRD Corresponding author:- Niladri Sarkar, Email- niladrisarkar91@gmail.com
1. Introduction & Literature review A composite material is a combination of two or more constituents that are combined and are not soluble in each other. One constituent is called the reinforcing phase and the one in which it is embedded is called the matrix. Generally material which consists of two or more components with unlike properties and separable boundaries between the components is called as a composite material. Composite is combination of two or more material such as plastics & polymer, metal or ceramics in fiber or form of strands. The reinforcement may be in the form of fibers, particles, whiskers or laminates, and are formed in a desired matrix, thereby providing a material that combines the most useful properties of the constituents. 1.2 Classification of composites On the basis of matrix material, composite materials can be classified into three groups. they are: 1.2.1 Metal Matrix Composites (MMC) 1.2.2 Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMC) 1.2.3 Polymer Matrix Composites (PMC) 1.3 Types of polymer composites Polymer composites can be classified into two groups on the basis of reinforcing material. They are: i. Fiber reinforced polymer ( FRP ) ii. Particle reinforced polymer ( PRP ) 1.4 Some of the relevant works carried over in past Shankar et al. [1] studied the tensile properties of the snake grass fiber and made comparison with the other natural fibers available. Experimental results showed that the fractional increase of tensile and modulus of the snake grass fiber reinforce composite.
Al-Qureshi [2] plot of stress vs. percentage of strain for banana fiber is approximately linear; with a stress value of around 560 MPa, when the percentage of the strain is 3.5. A truck model Manaca was developed and tested. Ratna Prasad et al. [3] The micrographs of the longitudinal section and cross section of the banana fiber strands were taken. The cross sectional area of the banana fiber was investigated by using optical laser beam. Sabu Thomas et al. [4] investigated the mechanical performance of short randomly oriented banana and sisal hybrid fiber reinforced polyester composites with reference to the relative volume fraction of the two fibers at a constant total fiber. It was found that the tensile is found to be increased in banana/sisal hybrid fiber reinforced polyester composites. Kerim et al. [5] studied the bending of single and double layer specimen of banana/glass hybrid composite. The test results showed that produced banana / glass fiber material can be used for indoors and outdoors applications where moderate is required. Thus, economic benefits of the waste can be realized. Raghuramn et al. [6] studied the fabrication and investigation of mechanical properties of natural fibers like abaca and banana fiber and made comparison with the hybrid natural fiber composite. It is found that Abaca-Glass composite is found to have better tensile than the other two combinations and Abaca-Glass-Banana Hybrid Composite is found to have better Flexural and Impact value 2. Fabrication of proposed materials 2.1 Raw materials Raw materials used in this experimental work are listed below: Matrix material: Epoxy Filler material 1: Banana fiber Filler material 2: E glass fiber A mold of dimension (200 180 5) mm3 is used for casting the composite slabs.the low temperature curing epoxy resin and corresponding hardener are mixed in a ratio of 10:1 by weight as recommended. Then short banana/glass fibers is mixed with epoxy resin by the simple stirring process. The composites are prepared with four different fiber loading say (10%, 15%, 20% and 25%) by weight using simple hand lay-up technique. 3. Composite tests on specimen Mechanical testing of fiber reinforced composites
Tensile test of fiber reinforced polymer composites Flexural test of fiber reinforced polymer composites Hardness testing Preparation of test specimen for mechanical testing Preparation of tensile test specimen Preparation of flexural test specimen Preparation of hardness test specimen Characterization techniques for fiber reinforced composite materials Microscopic methods of characterization : Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) Spectroscopic methods : X-ray diffraction (XRD) 4. Results Table shows the comparison of experimental and analytical result of tensile and flexural test. The percentage difference between two approaches is also given. Designation Composition Experimental result Analytical result % % Max. tensile MPa Max. flexural MPa Max. tensile MPa Max. flexur al strengt h MPa variation in tensile variation in flexural C1 90wt% Epoxy +5wt% 2.807 25.111 3.8323 28.668 26.75% 12.40% Banana fiber +5wt% Glass fiber C2 85wt% Epoxy + 7.5wt% Banana fiber +7.5wt% Glass fiber 11.550 29.899 12.365 31.569 6.59% 5.28%
C3 C4 80wt% Epoxy + 10wt% Banana fiber +10wt% Glass fiber 75wt% Epoxy + 12.5wt% Banana fiber +12.5wt% Glass fiber 18.991 44.393 20.471 46.737 7.22% 5.01% 25.111 61.961 27.832 63.835 9.77% 2.93% 5. Conclusions The experimental investigation on the mechanical behavior of banana/glass fiber reinforced epoxy based hybrid composites leads to the following conclusions: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) Epoxy based four hybrid composites (C1, C2, C3 and C4) have been fabricated with short banana and glass fiber loading (90 wt% Epoxy +5 wt% Banana fiber +5 wt% Glass fiber), (85 wt% Epoxy + 7.5 wt% Banana fiber +7.5 wt% Glass fiber), (80 wt% Epoxy + 10 wt% Banana fiber +10 wt% Glass fiber) and (75 wt% Epoxy + 12.5 wt% Banana fiber +12.5 wt% Glass fiber). Successful fabrication of hybrid banana/glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites by simple hand lay- up technique. It has been noticed that the mechanical properties of the composites such as hardness, tensile and flexural are influenced by the fiber loading. A gradual increase in tensile and flexural can be observed with the increase in the fiber loading up to 25 wt% of composites. It has been observed that the tensile modulus increases by addition of fiber content up to 20 wt% then decreases due to addition of 25 wt% of fibers.
(v) Hardness value increases as wt% of fibers (banana and glass) increases. Hardness is maximum for sample C4 (75 wt% Epoxy + 12.5 wt% Banana fiber +12.5 wt% Glass fiber) as compared to pure epoxy. (vi) Finite element method (FEM) has been gainfully employed for determination of tensile and flexural of hybrid fiber reinforced polymer composites with different fiber loading. (vii) Experimental and analytical approach shows that the tensile and flexural increases as the fiber loading in the composite increases. Both the analysis shows 26.75%, 6.59%, 7.22% and 9.77% deviation in the experimental and analytical tensile test and 12.40%, 5.28%, 5.01% and 2.93% deviation in the experimental and analytical flexural test corresponding to sample C1, C2, C3 and C4 respectively. (viii) XRD analysis of banana/glass hybrid fiber epoxy composites sample with 10 wt%, 15 wt%, 20 wt% and 25 wt% of fiber has been done. Sharp peaks in all samples confirm the semi crystalline nature of composites. (ix) SEM images of the fracture surfaces of composites after the tensile test shows that the increase in properties of composites at 25wt% fiber loading is due to the better adhesion between fiber and matrix. (x) Finally optimum mechanical properties are obtained for composition C4 (75 wt% Epoxy + 12.5 wt% Banana fiber +12.5 wt% Glass fiber). 6. References [1] Sathishkumar T.P., Navaneethakrishnan P., and Shankar S. Tensile and flexural properties of snake grass natural fiber reinforced isophthallic polyester composites, Composites Science and Technology, vol 72, pp. 1183 1190, (2012). [2] Al-Qureshi, H.A. The Use of Banana Fiber Reinforced Composites for the Development of a Truck Body, in Proc. 2nd International wood and natural fiber composite symposium, (1999). [3] Murali K., Rao M., Rao K.M. and Prasad A.V.R. Fabrication and testing of natural fibre composites: Vakka, sisal, bamboo and banana, Materials and Design, vol 31, pp. 508 513,
(2010). [4] Idicula M., Neelakantan N. R., Joseph Z.O.K. and Thomas S. A Study of the Mechanical Properties of Randomly Oriented Short Banana and Sisal Hybrid Fiber Reinforced Polyester Composites, Wiley InterScience, DOI 10.1002/app.21636, (2004). [5] Hoyur S.and Çetinkaya K. Production of banana / glass fiber bio composite profile and its bending, Usak University Journal of Material Sciences, vol 1, pp.43 49, (2012). [6] Venkatasubramanian H., Chaithanyan C., Raghuraman S. and Panneerselvam T. Evaluation of mechanical properties of Abaca-glass-banana fiber reinforced hybrid Composites, Engineering and Technology, Vol. 3, ISSN: 2319-8753, (2014).