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ISSN: 2321 8045 Vol-1, Issue-1, J uly 2013

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Mechanical Properties of Natural Fibre (Banana,
Coir, Sisal) Polymer Composites


M.SAKTHIVEl
1
, S.RAMESH
2

1
Asst.Professor, Adhiyamaan College of Engineering, Hosur .

2
Professor, Sona College of Engineering, Salem

ABSTRACT
Natural fibres have been used to reinforce materials for over 3000 years. More currently they have been employed in
combination with plastics. Many types of natural fibres have been investigated for use in plastics including flax,
hemp, jute, sisal and banana. Natural fibres have the advantage that they are renewable resources and have
marketing appeal. These agricultural wastes can be used to prepare fibre reinforced polymer composites for
commercial use. Application of composite materials to structures has presented the need for the engineering analysis
the present work focuses on the fabrication of polymer matrix composites by using natural fibres like coir,banana
and sisal which are abundant nature in desired shape by the help of various structures of paterns and calculating its
material characteristics(flexural modulus, flexural rigidity, hardness number,% gain of water) by conducting tests
like flexural test, hardness test, water absorption test, impact test, density test, and their results are measured on
sections of the material and make use of the natural fibre reinforced polymer composite material for automotive seat
shell manufacturing.

KEYWORDS: Natural fibres, coir, reinforced polymer, paterns, sisal.

1. INTRODUCTION

The interest in using natural fibres such as
different plant fibres and wood fibres as
reinforcement in plastics has increased dramatically
during last few years. With regard to the surrounding
aspects it would be very interesting if natural fibres
could be used instead of glass fibres as reinforcement
in some structural applications. Natural fibres have
many advantages compared to glass fibres, for
example they have low density, and they are
recyclable and biodegradable. Additionally they are
renewable raw materials and have relatively high
strength and stiffness. Their low-density values allow
producing composites that combine good mechanical
properties with a low specific mass. In tropical
countries fibrous plants are available in abundance.
Fibre reinforced polymer composites have
many applications as a class of structural materials
because of their ease of fabrication, relatively low
prize and higher mechanical properties compared to
polymer resins. These composites are considered as
replacements for metal materials where the
association of metallic fibre with polymeric matrix is
attractive material for electronic packaging
applications. The combination of reinforcement with
high thermal conductivity embedded in a resin matrix
with low thermal conductivity is desirable to
dissipating the heat flux for electronic packaging
components. Studies on the mechanical properties of
short fibre reinforced polymer composites have
shown that both fibre length distribution and fibre
orientation distribution play very important role in
determining the mechanical properties.
Natural fiber composites combine plant-
derived fibers with a plastic binder. The natural fiber
components may be wood, sisal, hemp, coconut,
thread, kenaf, flax, jute, abaca, banana leaf fibers,
Bamboo, wheat straw or other fibrous material. The
advantages of natural fiber composites include
lightweight, low-energy production, and
environmental friendly. The use of natural fibers
reduces weight by 10% and lowers the energy needed
for production by 80%, while the cost of the
component is 5% lower than the comparable fiber
glass-reinforced component.
In the past, composites of coconut
fiber/natural rubber latex were extensively used by
the automotive industry. How-ever, during the
seventies and eighties, newly developed synthetic

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ISSN: 2321 8045 Vol-1, Issue-1, J uly 2013

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fibers due to better performance gradually substituted
cellulose fibers. There has been a renewed interest in
using these fibers as reinforcement materials, to some
extent in the plastic industry. This resurgence of
interest may be attributed to the increasing cost of
plastics and the environmental aspects associated
with using renewable and biodegradable materials.
Sisal fibre is fairly coarse and unsuitable . It
has godly ability, durability, strength to stretch,
affinity for certain dyestuffs and resistance to regress
in seawater. Sisal ropes and twines are widely used
for marine, agronomic, transport and general
industrial use.
Banana fibre at present is a waste product of
banana cultivation. Hence, without any including cost
input, banana fibre can be obtained for industrial
purposes. Banana fibre is found to be good
reinforcement in polyester resin. The properties of
the composites are strongly influenced by the fibre
length.


2. METHODOLOGY
2.1 NATURAL FIBRE PREPARATION
Here discontinuous fibre is used for fabricate the
natural fibre composites. First the natural fibres are
cleaned in the distilled water. The cleaned natural
fibres are dried in the sun light. The dried natural
fibres are again cleaned by chemical cleaning
process. In chemical cleaning process the 80%
sodium hydroxide is mixed with 20% distilled water.
The dried natural fibres dipped in the diluted sodium
hydroxide solution. Its again dried in sun light .The
dried natural fibres are cut in the length of 2 mm by
EDM machine. The cut natural fibres are used in
fabricate the natural fibre composites.

2.2 PATTERN

The pattern is designed by as per ASTM
standard. The pattern is made up of mild steel. The
pattern Size is 235 x 85 x 15 mm (ASTM D37-08)
The pattern consist of three parts
Base Plate
Frame
Lid
The Base plate is very thin plate which is placed
inside the inning. The Lid is placed on the top of the
inning. The main purpose of the lid is applied the
evenly distributed load on the mixture which is filled
in the pattern.

Fig 2.1 Pattern
2.3 REQUIREMENTS FOR FABRICATE
NATURAL FIBRE COMPOSITES
Epoxy resin
Hardener
Natural Fibre
Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH)
Weighing Machine
Roller
Bowl
Stirrer
2.4 MOULD PREPARATION
In mould preparation the resin is mixed with
hardener in the ratio of 4:1. The mixer is strewed
with stirrer for 15 minutes continuously



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2.5 FABRICATION PROCESS
Fig 2.2 Fabrication approach








Fig 2.3 fibre alignment
Here Hand Laminating Molding is used for
fabricate the natural FIBRE composites. The base
plate is fixed inside the frame For fabricate the
natural fibre composites 70% of rein hardener
mixture and remaining natural fibres are used. The
mixed resin and hardener is filled in the pattern. The
prepared natural fibres are randomly poured in the
resin hardener mixture without any gap. The roller is
rolled in the mould. Again the mould is filled in
pattern by next layer and fibres poured randomly
.This process is simultaneously done till the height of
the mould 10mm.The lid is fixed on the top of the
frame for distribute the load evenly on the mould.
The setup is kept in the dry place for 24 hours. After
24hours the mould is take away from the pattern,
finally the natural fibre composite is fabricated.
Fig 2.4 Hand Laminating Method


2.6 FABRICATED NATURAL FIBRE
COMPOSITES

Polymer Coir matrix composites
Polymer Banana matrix composites
Polymer Sisal matrix composites



Fig 2.5 Polymer matrix composite


2.7.MATERIAL PROPERTIES

The main objective is to determine the material
properties (Flexural modulus, flexural rigidity,
Hardness number, % gain of water, density, Impact
Strength) of natural FIBRE reinforced composite
material by conducting the following respective tests.
Flexural test
Hardness Test
Water absorption Test
Density Test
Impact Test


3.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 FLEXURAL TEST RESULT

The flexural test measures the force required
to bend a beam under three point loading
situations. The data is often used to select
elements for parts that will support loads
without inflection. Flexural modulus is used
as an indication of a materials stiffness
when inflection. Since the physical
properties of many elements (especially
thermoplastics) can vary depending on

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ambient temperature, it is appropriate to test
materials at temperatures that simulate the
intended end use environment.

3.1.1 FORMULA USED

E =

N/mm
2

E I =

N-mm
2

I =

E Modulus of elasticity
E I Flexural Rigidity
y- Deflection in mm
F- load in N





3.1.2 MODEL CALCULATION

E =
y =0.75 mm
I =

L =200 mm
B =80 mm
y =H/2
H =10 mm
y =5 mm from natural Axis
I =
I =6666.67 mm
4


E =

E =2043.67 N/mm
2

EI =

N-mm
2

=

EI =13.624 x 10
6
N-mm
2




Table 3.1.1 Polymer Coir Matrix Composites









Table 3.1.2 Polymer Sisal Matrix Composites

S.No
Proving
Reading
Division
Load F
In Deflection
Y in mm
Modulus
of
Elasticity
E in
N/mm
2

Flexural
Rigidity
EI in N-mm
2



Kg

N
1 1 6.25 61.31 0.54 2838.54 18.92X10
6
2 2 12.5 122.625 1.15 2665.76 17.77X10
6
3 3 18.75 183.94 1.82 2627.68 17.52 X10
6

2710.66 18.07X10
6
S.No
Proving
Reading
Division
Load F
In
Deflection
Y in mm
Modulus
of
Elasticity
E in
N/mm
2

Flexural
Rigidity
EI in N-
mm
2



Kg

N
1 1 6.25 61.31 1.93 1551.11 10.34X10
6

2 2 12.5 122.625 5.55 1078.79 7.19X10
6

3 3 18.75 183.94 9.75 921.12 6.14X10
6

Average 1183.67 7.89X10
6

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3.2 HARDNESS TEST RESULTS
The Rockwell hardness number represents
the additional depth to which a test ball or sphere-
conical penetrator is driven by a heavy (major) load
beyond the depth of a previously applied light
(minor) load. Top hardness numbers that are obtained
from hard materials indicate a shallow indentation
while low numbers found with soft materials indicate
deep indentation. The increment of penetration depth
for each point of hardness on the Rockwell mount is
0.00008 inch. For example, if a piece of steel
measures Rockwell C 58 (extremely hard) at same
point and C 55 at another, the depth of penetration
would have been 0.00024 inch deeper at the softer
spot.


Table 3.2.1 Tabulated Readings of Rockwell
Hardness Number
S.No
Polymer matrix
composite
Indenter used
Load in
Kg
RHN
1 Coir

Diamond
Indenter

150
36HRC
2 Banana
63HRC
3 Sisal
54HRC
4 Coir

1/16 Ball
Indenter

100
76HRC
5 Banana
57HRC
6 Sisal
92HRC



3.3 WATER ABSORPTION TEST RESULT
Water absorption is used to determine the
amount of water absorbed under specified conditions.
Factors affecting water absorption include: type of
plastic, additives used, temperature and length of
exposure. The data sheds light on the performance of
materials in humid.



Table 3.3.1 Water Absorption Test result
Polymer matrix
composite
material
Mass before test
(g)
Mass after test (g) (%) gain of water
COIR
9.141 9.150 0.09
BANANA
7.815 7.823 0.10
SISAL
7.531 7.535 0.05


3.4 Density Test result
Density is the term used to describe the relationship
between the weight of the substance and its size.

Density is a physical property of every substance, and
different substances have different densities. Density
can be measured in a variety of units, including
grams per centimeter and pounds per cubic foot.



S.No
Proving
Reading
Division
Load F
In
Deflection
Y in mm
Modulus
of
Elasticity
E in
N/mm
2

Flexural
Rigidity
EI in N-mm
2


Kg N
1 1 6.25 61.31 0.89 1722.26 11.48X10
6
2 2 12.5 122.625 1.86 1648,18 10.98X10
6
3 3 18.75 183.94 2.88 1596.68 10.64X10
6
1655.71 11.03X10
6

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Table 3.4.1 Density Test result
Polymer matrix
composite
material
Mass(m)
(Kg)
Volume(v)
(10
-4
m
3
)
Density(), m/v
(Kg/m
3
)
COIR
0.386
2.99625
1288
BANANA
0.330
2.99625
1101
SISAL
0.346
2.99625
1155



3.5. IMPACT TEST RESULT
The Charpy impact test, also known as the
Charpy V-notch test, is a standardized high strain-
rate test which determines the amount of energy
absorbed by a material during fracture. This absorbed
energy is a measure of a given material's toughness
and acts as a tool to study temperature-dependent
ductile-brittle transition. It is widely applied in
industry, since it is easy to prepare and conduct and
results can be obtained quickly and cheaply.

4.12 Charpy Impact Test Result
Sample
Polymer matrix composite
material
Impact Energy in
Scale(J oule)
1
COIR
4
2
BANANA
5
3
SISAL
4


4. CONCLUSIONS
A Polymer matrix composite contains the
various natural fibres as the reinforcement phase was
successfully fabricated .The material properties of
fabricated natural fibre reinforced composites were
observed. It is found that polymer banana reinforced
natural composites is the best natural composites
among the various combination. It can be used for
manufacturing of automotive seat shells among the
other natural fibre combinations.
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