Mechanical Characteristics Study of Chemically Modified Kenaf Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composites

ABSTRACT

An experimental investigation was conducted to identify the optimum fiber content and the effect of fiber alkaline treatment on kenaf fiber reinforced epoxy composites and reported in this article. The entire research work was carried out in two phases. In first phase, kenaf fiber reinforced epoxy composites with fiber weight fractions 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50% (on the total weight of composites) of raw untreated fibers were fabricated using hand layup followed by compression molding to identify the optimum fiber content. The prepared specimens were tested for tensile, flexural and impact properties as per corresponding ASTM standards. In the second phase the optimal fiber weight fraction was chosen to identify the effect of chemical treatment of kenaf fiber mats with NaOH and KOH solutions on mechanical properties. Based on the test results the optimum fiber content was identified as 40% with 45.98 MPa, 40.50 MPa, and 13.26 kJ/m² as tensile, flexural and impact strength respectively; and 6% NaOH treatment recorded highest mechanical properties of composite such as 58.34 MPa in tensile, 55.34 MPa in flexural and 16.69 kJ/m² in impact strengths respectively. Also 6% NaOH treatment shown 26.88%, 37.28%, and 25.87% improvement on tensile, flexural, and impact strengths respectively.

摘要

研究了红麻纤维增强环氧树脂复合材料的最佳纤维含量和纤维碱处理对复合材料性能的影响. 整个研究工作分两个阶段进行. 在第一阶段，以未经处理的原纤维为原料，采用手糊法和模压法分别制备了纤维质量分数分别为20%、30%、40%和50%的红麻纤维增强环氧树脂复合材料，以确定最佳纤维含量. 根据相应的ASTM标准，对制备的试样进行拉伸、弯曲和冲击性能测试. 第二阶段选择最佳纤维质量分数，研究NaOH和KOH溶液化学处理对红麻纤维毡力学性能的影响。试验结果表明，纤维含量为40%时，拉伸、弯曲和冲击强度分别为45.98mpa、40.50mpa和13.26kj/m2; 6%NaOH处理的复合材料力学性能最高，分别为58.34mpa、55.34mpa和16.69kj/m2. 经6%NaOH处理后，拉伸强度、弯曲强度和冲击强度分别提高26.88%、37.28%和25.87%.

KEYWORDS:

• Kenaf fiber
• epoxy resin
• NaOH treatment
• KOH treatment
• mechanical properties

关键词:

• 红麻纤维
• 环氧树脂
• NaOH处理
• KOH处理
• 机械性能