Mechanical, Chemical and Morphological Analysis of Crab shell/Sisal Natural Fiber Hybrid Composites

ABSTRACT

Natural fiber-reinforced hybrid composites find wide applications in recent decades owing to its biodegradability, low density, and low-cost benefits. The work reported investigates, the effect of adding crab shell particles over sisal-reinforced epoxy hybrid composites in different weight percentages such as 0 wt.%, 2 wt.%, 4 wt.%, and 6 wt.%. Mechanical properties, morphological characters, X-ray diffraction analysis, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were carried out for prepared hybrid composites. The inclusion of up to four weight percentage of crab shell particles exhibited considerable improvements in tensile (50%) and flexural strength (38%) in contrast to other combinations. Addition of more than 4 wt. % of crab shell particles in the polymer composites showed decreasing properties, due to the agglomeration effect between fiber and matrix. This clearly showed that the inclusion of crab shell particles into the polymer matrix considerably improves the flexural and tensile strength of hybrid composites. Morphological behavior of fractured surface confirmed the existence of better bonding between the fiber and matrix. Functional groups of sisal fiber and crab shell particles were identified using FTIR. The crystallinity index (CI) and crystallinity percentage of sisal fiber and crab shell particles are 0.43, 0.44 and 63.76%, 63.95%, respectively.

摘要

天然纤维增强混杂复合材料具有生物降解性好、密度低、成本低等优点, 近年来得到了广泛的应用. 本文研究了在剑麻增强环氧杂化复合材料中添加蟹壳颗粒对复合材料质量分数的影响. 对制备的混杂复合材料进行了力学性能、形态特征、X射线衍射分析和傅立叶变换红外光谱分析. 与其他组合相比，含重量百分比高达4%的蟹壳颗粒在拉伸强度（50%）和弯曲强度(38%）方面表现出显著的改善. 由于纤维与基体间的团聚作用，在复合材料中加入质量分数大于4%的蟹壳颗粒，其性能下降. 这清楚地表明，在聚合物基体中加入蟹壳颗粒可显著提高混杂复合材料的弯曲强度和拉伸强度. 断裂表面的形态行为证实了纤维和基体之间存在更好的结合. 利用FTIR对剑麻纤维和蟹壳颗粒的官能团进行了鉴定. 剑麻纤维和蟹壳颗粒的结晶指数分别为0.43、0.44和63.76%、63.95%.

KEYWORDS:

• Natural fiber
• crab shell particles
• mechanical properties
• morphological studies
• Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

关键词:

• 天然纤维
• 蟹壳颗粒
• 力学性能
• 形态学研究
• 傅里叶变换红外光谱

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the VIT University [SEED Grant].