Experimental Investigation on the Mechanical, Thermal, and Morphological Behaviour of Prosopis juliflora Bark Reinforced Epoxy Polymer Composite

ABSTRACT

Currently more emphasis is given to plants originated fibers for many applications due to their potential use in solving emerging problems concerning the environment. This research is based on evaluation of fiber concentration and treatment on physical, mechanical and thermal properties of untreated and treated Prosopis Juliflora (PJ) bark fiber reinforced epoxy composites. Composites were fabricated with varying weight % (i.e 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25%) of untreated and treated PJ bark fibers in epoxy resin using hand lay-up method. From the results obtained, it is obvious that the mechanical and thermal properties of composites reinforced with chemically treated fibers were enhanced due to fiber surface modification which helps in better bonding with matrix. Moreover, the composites with 20wt% fiber concentration shows good tensile strength, young’s modulus, impact strength and was found to be 84.22MPa, 3.94 GPa, 31.76 KJ/m² and 59.18 MPa respectively. Finally, the failure analysis of fracture surface due to delimitation, pull-out of the fibers, percentage of voids and composite fracture has been verified using scanning electron microscope.

摘要:

目前, 由于植物纤维在解决新出现的环境问题方面的潜在用途, 在许多应用中越来越受到重视. 本研究基于纤维浓度和处理对未处理和处理过的Prosopis Juliflora (PJ) 树皮纤维增强环氧树脂复合材料物理、机械和热性能的评估。采用手糊法在环氧树脂中用不同重量 (即5%、10%、15%、20%和25%) 的未处理和处理过的PJ树皮纤维制备复合材料. 从所得结果可以明显看出, 由于纤维表面改性有助于更好地与基体结合, 化学处理纤维增强复合材料的力学和热性能得到了提高. 此外, 纤维浓度为20wt%的复合材料具有良好的拉伸强度、杨氏模量和冲击强度, 分别为84.22MPa、3.94gpa、31.76kj/m2和59.18mpa. 最后, 利用扫描电子显微镜验证了由于划界、纤维拔出、空隙率和复合材料断裂引起的断裂面失效分析.

KEYWORDS:

• Prosopis juliflora bark
• surface modification
• mechanical properties
• thermogravimetry analysis (TGA)
• Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)
• scanning electron microscopy (SEM)

关键词:

• 朱丽叶原皮
• 表面改性
• 力学性能
• 热重分析 (TGA).
• 傅里叶变换红外光谱
• 扫描电子显微镜

Conflict of Interest

None.