Mechanical and Wear Performance Evaluation of Natural Fiber/Epoxy Matrix Composites

Fibers collected from the husk of areca nut trees were chopped to a length of 30 mm and were either used as such or subjected to alkaline treatment by immersion in a 5% sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution. The untreated and treated fibers were investigated using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) before...

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Main Authors: Sivasubramanian Palanisamy, Sumesh Keerthiveetil Ramakrishnan, Carlo Santulli, Tabrej Khan, Omar Shabbir Ahmed
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: North Carolina State University 2024-09-01
Series:BioResources
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Online Access:https://ojs.bioresources.com/index.php/BRJ/article/view/23745
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author Sivasubramanian Palanisamy
Sumesh Keerthiveetil Ramakrishnan
Carlo Santulli
Tabrej Khan
Omar Shabbir Ahmed
author_facet Sivasubramanian Palanisamy
Sumesh Keerthiveetil Ramakrishnan
Carlo Santulli
Tabrej Khan
Omar Shabbir Ahmed
author_sort Sivasubramanian Palanisamy
collection DOAJ
description Fibers collected from the husk of areca nut trees were chopped to a length of 30 mm and were either used as such or subjected to alkaline treatment by immersion in a 5% sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution. The untreated and treated fibers were investigated using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) before the fabrication of composites using an epoxy matrix. Different amounts of fibers were introduced in the matrix, fabricating the composite by compression molding. The composites were subjected to tensile, flexural, and Charpy impact and Shore D hardness testing, which all demonstrated the considerable advantage obtained with the growing quantity of fibers, especially when employing treated fibers, except in the case of hardness, where limited advantages were encountered. Wear tests were carried out on treated fiber composites and the surface morphology of the worn-out samples was studied, which also demonstrated the improvement in fiber-matrix bonding obtained with the growing amount of fibers. The main limitation of the fibers was their low elongation even after treatment. The fibers hardly reached 4%, which might represent a quite normal value for this kind of fibers, possibly due to with tendency to fibrillation. This would somehow compare these composites with others with similar amounts and lengths of natural fibers.
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spelling doaj-art-8c4e8ce6ce7d4296a75c06c32b8c8b662025-08-20T01:56:06ZengNorth Carolina State UniversityBioResources1930-21262024-09-01194845984781932Mechanical and Wear Performance Evaluation of Natural Fiber/Epoxy Matrix CompositesSivasubramanian Palanisamy0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1926-4949Sumesh Keerthiveetil Ramakrishnan1Carlo Santulli2Tabrej Khan3Omar Shabbir Ahmed4Department of Mechanical Engineering, P T R College of Engineering & Technology, Thanapandian Nagar, Madurai – Tirumangalam Road, Madurai, 625008, Tamilnadu, India; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chennai Institute of Technology, Sarathy Nagar, Kundrathur, Chennai-600069, Tamilnadu, IndiaFaculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Materials Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Karlovo Namesti 13, Prague 02, 12000, Czech RepublicSchool of Science and Technology, Università di Camerino, 62032 Camerino, ItalyDepartment of Engineering Management, College of Engineering, Prince Sultan University, Riyadh- 11586, Saudi ArabiaDepartment of Engineering Management, College of Engineering, Prince Sultan University, Riyadh- 11586, Saudi ArabiaFibers collected from the husk of areca nut trees were chopped to a length of 30 mm and were either used as such or subjected to alkaline treatment by immersion in a 5% sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution. The untreated and treated fibers were investigated using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) before the fabrication of composites using an epoxy matrix. Different amounts of fibers were introduced in the matrix, fabricating the composite by compression molding. The composites were subjected to tensile, flexural, and Charpy impact and Shore D hardness testing, which all demonstrated the considerable advantage obtained with the growing quantity of fibers, especially when employing treated fibers, except in the case of hardness, where limited advantages were encountered. Wear tests were carried out on treated fiber composites and the surface morphology of the worn-out samples was studied, which also demonstrated the improvement in fiber-matrix bonding obtained with the growing amount of fibers. The main limitation of the fibers was their low elongation even after treatment. The fibers hardly reached 4%, which might represent a quite normal value for this kind of fibers, possibly due to with tendency to fibrillation. This would somehow compare these composites with others with similar amounts and lengths of natural fibers.https://ojs.bioresources.com/index.php/BRJ/article/view/23745areca huskthermal degradationmechanical propertieswear propertiesfracture morphology
spellingShingle Sivasubramanian Palanisamy
Sumesh Keerthiveetil Ramakrishnan
Carlo Santulli
Tabrej Khan
Omar Shabbir Ahmed
Mechanical and Wear Performance Evaluation of Natural Fiber/Epoxy Matrix Composites
BioResources
areca husk
thermal degradation
mechanical properties
wear properties
fracture morphology
title Mechanical and Wear Performance Evaluation of Natural Fiber/Epoxy Matrix Composites
title_full Mechanical and Wear Performance Evaluation of Natural Fiber/Epoxy Matrix Composites
title_fullStr Mechanical and Wear Performance Evaluation of Natural Fiber/Epoxy Matrix Composites
title_full_unstemmed Mechanical and Wear Performance Evaluation of Natural Fiber/Epoxy Matrix Composites
title_short Mechanical and Wear Performance Evaluation of Natural Fiber/Epoxy Matrix Composites
title_sort mechanical and wear performance evaluation of natural fiber epoxy matrix composites
topic areca husk
thermal degradation
mechanical properties
wear properties
fracture morphology
url https://ojs.bioresources.com/index.php/BRJ/article/view/23745
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AT carlosantulli mechanicalandwearperformanceevaluationofnaturalfiberepoxymatrixcomposites
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