Physico Chemical and Mechanical Properties of Natural Cellulosic Water Hyacinth Fiber and Its Composites

ABSTRACT

Physicochemical and mechanical characterization of Water Hyacinth (WH) fiber was reported in this paper. Compression molding technique is used to fabricate WH fiber-reinforced epoxy composites. The chemical analysis indicates that the WH fiber contains higher percentage of cellulose and lignin content and lesser amount of ash and wax content. Structure of WH fiber shown from Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis. Four different ratio’s of fiber and epoxy resin were used to fabricate the composites (25:75, 30:70, 35:65, 40:60), first two digit mention the fiber content and last two digit are mention resin. The result shows that at 35 wt.% of the fiber content in the composite provides a better improvement in properties. Results shown from the SEM depicts that the reason for fiber breakage, matrix fracture and pull-out of fiber is mechanical failure which stands as main mechanism. It stands as victim that WH fiber-reinforced composites can be used in various industrial applications.

摘要

本文报道了水葫芦纤维的物理化学和力学特性. 采用模压成型技术制备了WH纤维增强环氧复合材料. 化学分析表明, WH纤维的纤维素和木质素含量较高, 灰分和蜡含量较低. 扫描电子显微镜 (SEM)分析显示WH纤维的结构. 使用四种不同比例的纤维和环氧树脂制备复合材料(25:75、30:70、35:65、40:60), 前两位表示纤维含量, 后两位表示树脂含量. 结果表明, 当纤维含量为35%时, 复合材料的性能得到了更好的改善. 扫描电镜分析结果表明, 纤维断裂、基体断裂和纤维拔出的主要原因是机械失效, 机械失效是纤维断裂的主要机制. WH纤维增强复合材料可以应用于各种工业领域, 这一点令人担忧

KEYWORDS:

• WH fiber
• epoxy composites
• mechanical properties
• structure of WH fiber
• chemical properties
• SEM

关键词:

• WH 纤维
• 环氧复合材料
• 力学性能
• WH纤维的结构
• 化学性质
• SEM

Highlights

• Mechanical and physico chemical properties of Water Hyacinth Fiber are reported in this work.

• Water hyacinth fiber reinforced with epoxy composites are fabricated to analyze the strength.

• SEM analysis are carried out for analyzing the morphological structure of water hyacinth fiber.

• SEM analysis is conducted for analyzing the fiber pull-out surface and impact fracture surface in composite.

• Optimum weight percentage of WH fiber required for fabrication of epoxy composite has been predicted.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Additional information

Funding

The authors have no funding to report.