Influence of Chemical Treatment and Moisture Absorption on Tensile Behavior of Neem/banana Fibers Reinforced Hybrid Composites: An Experimental Investigation

ABSTRACT

Hybrid composites composed of neem fiber (N), banana (B) fiber and epoxy resin were fabricated by hand layup method. Three types of composites with blending ratio of B:N (1:4), B:N (1:1) and B:N (4:1) respectively were fabricated and the effects of fiber loading, chemical treatment and moisture absorption on tensile strength of the composites were investigated. The results showed that the fiber loading influenced the tensile strength and the B:N (4:1) composite displayed the superior tensile strength of 52 MPa compared to other composites due to the presence of more amount of banana fiber with high strength. The B:N (1:4) composite exhibited the lowest tensile strength of 47 MPa owing to the presence of more amount of neem fiber with low strength. Chemical treatment of fiber surface improved the tensile strength significantly due to the removal of impurities, lignin and hemicellulose. Silane-treated composite showed the greater tensile strength compared to alkali treated and untreated composites. Silane treated B:N (4:1) composite exhibited 17.5% and 42.3% improvement in tensile strength compared to the tensile strength of alkali treated and untreated composites respectively. Moisture absorption study revealed that the moisture uptake behavior of composite reduced the tensile strength due to the breakage of H-bond. Moisture absorption reduced the tensile strength of B:N (1:4), B:N (1:1) and B:N (4:1) composites by 14.7%, 10% and 5.8% respectively compared to dry samples.

摘要

采用手糊法制备了由印楝纤维 (N), 香蕉 (B) 纤维和环氧树脂组成的混杂复合材料. 制备了B:N (1:4), B:N (1:1) 和B:N (4:1) 三种共混比的复合材料, 研究了纤维负载, 化学处理和吸湿对复合材料拉伸强度的影响. 结果表明, 纤维负载对复合材料的拉伸强度有一定的影响, B:N (4:1) 复合材料的拉伸强度比其它复合材料高52mpa. B:N (1:4) 复合材料的拉伸强度最低, 为47mpa, 这是由于低强度的neem纤维含量较多. 纤维表面化学处理去除了杂质, 木质素和半纤维素, 显著提高了纤维的拉伸强度. 与碱处理和未处理的复合材料相比, 硅烷处理的复合材料具有更高的拉伸强度. 硅烷处理的B:N (4:1) 复合材料的拉伸强度分别比碱处理和未处理的提高了17.5%和42.3%. 吸湿性研究表明, 由于氢键断裂, 复合材料的吸湿行为降低了拉伸强度. 吸湿使B:N (1:4), B:N (1:1) 和B:N (4:1) 复合材料的拉伸强度分别比干试样降低14.7%, 10%和5.8%.

KEYWORDS:

• Neem fiber
• banana fiber
• chemical treatment
• moisture absorption
• tensile strength

关键词:

• 印楝纤维
• 香蕉纤维
• 化学处理
• 吸湿性
• 抗拉强度