Tensile and impact behaviour of rice straw-polyester composites

399-403Rice straw fibres have been extracted and incorporated in polyester resin matrix to prepare rice straw reinforced polyester composites and the tensile and impact properties of the resultant composites studied. The rice straw fibres have a tensile strength of ~ 69.72 MPa and Young’s modulus of ~ 2427 MPa. The composites have been formulated up to fibre volume of about 40%, resulting in a mean tensile strength of 46 MPa which is greater than that of plain polyester (31.5 MPa). The tensile modulus of composite is found to be 1045 MPa which is about 1.66 times to that of plain polyester. The specific tensile modulus is nearly 2.17 times to that of polyester resin. The work of fracture measured in impact at a fibre volume of 46% is found to be 284 J/m. Therefore, the straw-based composites have potential to be used as core material for structural board products

Thermo-physical and fire properties of sustainable bio composites: Experimental and computational analysis

Bio-composites were prepared by incorporating broom grass, fishtail palm, sansevieria fibers as reinforcement in unsaturated polyester resin using hand lay-up method. The thermo physical and fire properties of bio-composites has been examined by varying the fiber content (0 to 39 wt. %) and temperature (30–120°C). The thermal insulation and heat storage capability of samples was assessed using guarded heat flow meter and differential scanning calorimeter. The experimental results reveal that, as the weight fraction of fiber increased, the insulation capability of composites increased, whereas it decreased with the temperature. The response of specific heat and thermal diffusivity of composites with temperature was analyzed. Temperature distribution and heat transfer through the composite materials was computed using ANSYS fluent solver. The rate of heat transfer through the fishtail palm fiber composite is 14.02% lesser than glass fiber composite. Cone calorimeter was used to measure fire behavior of the samples and the results reveal that the broom grass fiber composite material possesses better fire resistance characteristics against fire hazard. Morphological study of composites was performed with the help of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) for the visualization of homogeneity of surfaces. Developed bio-composites are the potential materials to replace petrochemical-based products

Mechanical properties of banana empty fruit bunch fibre reinforced polyester composites

162-167A light weight composite material has been prepared using banana empty fruit bunch fibre (banana-EFB) as reinforcement in polyester resin matrix, and its mechanical properties studied. The composites are formulated up to a maximum fibre volume fraction of about 0.37, resulting in a mean tensile strength of 43 MPa and tensile modulus of 1.06 GPa which are 36% and 68% higher than those of the plain polyester respectively. The flexural strength of banana-EFB composites is decreased, whereas flexural modulus has shown a mixed trend compared to that of plain polyester. The specific flexural modulus of the composite is 1.42 times to that of polyester resin and the work of fracture in impact is found to be 141.7 J/m

Flexural properties of rice straw reinforced polyester composites

335-338Rice straw fibres have been extracted and incorporated in polyester resin matrix to prepare rice straw rein forced polyester composites and the flexural properties of resultant composites studied. The composites with a mean flexural strength of 66.3 Mpa, which is greater than that of plain polyester (55.08 MPa), can be formulated with an optimum fibre volume of about 40%. The flexural modulus or composite is found to be 2630 MPa which is about 1.5 times greater than that of plain polyester. The specific flexural modulus is nearly 2 times greater than that of polyester resin. Straw-based composites are suitable as core material for structural board products

Multi-scale hybrid eco-nanocomposites: synthesis and characterization of nano-SiC-reinforced vinyl-ester eco-composites

Polymer eco-nanocomposites based on vinyl-ester, recycled cellulose fibre and nano-silicon carbide (n-SiC) have been synthesized and characterized in terms of porosity, water-absorption behaviour, thermal and mechanical properties. The addition of n-SiC led to reduced porosity and water uptake because of enhanced fibre–matrix adhesion which permitted efficient load transfer and thus strength improvement. However, n-SiC addition reduced the prevalence of fibre debonding and pull-outs, thus causing sample brittleness and inferior fracture toughness. In terms of thermal properties, n-SiC addition facilitated improved mass transport and heat barriers, thus improving thermal stability and fire resistance