MECHANICAL BEHAVIOUR OF RICE STRAW, EPOXY

REINFORCED COMPOSITE MATERIAL.

ABSTRACT

Now-a-days, the natural fibres from renewable natural resources offer the potential to act as a
reinforcing material for polymer composites alternative to the use of glass, carbon and other
man-made fibres. Among various fibres, jute is most widely used natural fibre due to its
advantages like easy availability, low density, low production cost and satisfactory
mechanical properties. For a composite material, its mechanical behaviour depends on many
factors such as fibre content, orientation, types, length etc. Attempts have been made in this
research work to study the effect of fibre loading and orientation on the physical and
mechanical behaviour of jute/glass fibre reinforced epoxy based hybrid composites. A hybrid
composite is a combination of two or more different types of fibre in which one type of fibre
balance the deficiency of another fibre.

Composites of various compositions with three different fibre orientation (0°, 30° and 40°)
are fabricated using simple hand lay-up technique. It has been observed that there is a
significant effect of fibre loading and orientation on the performance of jute/glass fibre
reinforced epoxy based hybrid composites. The developed hybrid composites undergo
different kinds of tests. The result shows hybrid composites having good strength and
stiffness compared to natural hybrid composites. The Finite Elemental Analysis was carried
to determine the stress and compare the result with experimental data.

Keywords: Renewable, Mechanical Properties, fiber orientation .

INTRODUCTION

Mankind has been aware composite materials since several hundred years before Christ and
applied innovation to improve the quality of life. Although it is not clear has to how Man
understood the fact that mud bricks made sturdier houses if lined with straw, he used them to
make buildings that lasted. Ancient Pharaohs made their slaves use bricks with to straw to
enhance the structural integrity of their buildings, some of which testify to wisdom of the
dead civilization even today. Contemporary composites results from research and innovation

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from past few decades have progressed from glass fibre for automobile bodies to particulate
composites for aerospace and a range other applications.

PROBLEM STATEMENT
It is desired to produce low cost, high quality, sustainable and environmental friendly
materials. It has been found from the researched study that the lower mechanical properties
and poor compatibility between polymer matrix and fibers. Composite materials are one of the
most favoured solutions to this problem in the field. By combining the stronger properties of
traditional materials and eliminating the disadvantages they bear, fiber mats of different
orientations are developed, composite materials technology is providing compromising
solutions and alternatives to many engineering fields. Problems born from material limitations
like heavy weight, structural strength, and thermal resistance are being solved by the
composite material alternatives, and many more alternatives are being introduced to readily
use engineering applications.

COMPONENTS USED

 RELEASE FILM ( TRANSPARENT SHEET )

 JUTE FIBERS
 EPOXY RESIN
 HARDNER
 RICE STRAW FIBERS
 WOOD HUSK FILLER MATERIALS

OBJECTIVES

1. The present study concentrates on the development of natural and hybrid

composite and to utilize the advantages offered by renewable sources.

2. Composites are developed by hand layup technique using, jute fiber, epoxy
and hardner with filler materials. Specimens are cut according to the ASTM
standard.

3. The hybrid composites are developed with different orientation such as 0 , 30

and 90 degrees.

4. The various tests are conducted to determine the mechanical properties.

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 Rice straw layer

LITERATURE REVIEW

M.Raghavendra et. al:[1] Investigated studies on woven glass Fibre reinforced polymer
matrix and determined the tensile strength, compressive strength and in plane shear strength
at room temperatures and at high temperatures. The test data is statistically analyzed it was
found that the specimens at higher temperatures showed low strength when compared with
the specimens at room temperature.

Buket Okutan et. al:[2] Conducted experimental studies to determine strength of

mechanically fastened Fibre – reinforced E-glass/epoxy composites. Various Mechanical
properties and strength was determined experimentally. The laminates manufactured had
different orientations of the Fibres. Parametric study was conducted considering the geometry
of the Fibre orientation and failure characteristics for the pin-loaded Fibre reinforced
laminated composites were analyzed. A comparison between experimental values with finite
element modal was carried. It was observed that the ply orientation and the geometry of the
composites are crucial in case of pinned Fibre reinforced laminated composites.

G.Kertsis et. al:[3] Hybrid composites having two or more types of reinforcing Fibres in a
polymer matrix can be classified according to the way their constituent Fibres are mixed such
as; sandwich hybrids, interply hybrids, and intermittently mixed hybrid composites. Interply
hybrid composites are gaining attention because hybridization facilitates the tailoring of
mechanical properties according to need by having a selective amount of extra reinforcement
at some selective position in the laminate. Presented a comprehensive review on the
properties of hybrid composites. The relative volume fraction of reinforcing Fibres and their
positioning in the hybrid layup act as the determining factors in the enhancement of flexural
properties. Therefore, for structural laminates under flexural loading, material can be
designed for better flexural properties by investigating the effect of the stacking sequence.

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Banerji and Nirmal et. al:[4] In a hybrid composite, the two reinforcing Fibres differ in
their mechanical properties and the interface they make with the matrix it was observed that
there was an increase in flexural strength of unidirectional carbon Fibre/ Poly(methyl
methacrylate), composite laminates having polyethylene Fibres plies at the lower face.

METHODOLOGY ADOPTED

1. The Jute natural fiber, with Epoxy is selected for this project and fabricated using
hand layup method.

2. Hybrid composites are fabricated with different fiber orientation such as 0 , 30 and 90
degrees . After fabrication the specimens are prepared according to the ASTM
standard for certain tests such as tensile compression and hardness test.

TESTS CONDUCTED

 TENSILE
 HARDNESS
 COMPRESSION

TENSILE TEST

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SCOPE FOR FUTURE WORK

There is a wide scope for future scholars to explore the current research area. The present
work can be further extended by adding layers of rice straw, varying fiber angles and to study
other aspects of composites like use of other natural fibers and evaluation of their dynamic
mechanical, thermal properties and the experimental results can be similarly be analyzed or
even with different analysis software.

The details of developing of hybrid composites are provided as scope to various industries
such as transportation, aeronautics, naval, automotive and component of electronic industry.
Commercial aircraft applications are the most important uses of hybrid composites. Aircraft
unlike other vehicles need to lay greater stress on safety and weight. Fiber epoxy composites
have been made with hybrid resin composites and these are now used in other transport
system. Ships are under constant attack, both from the elements of nature and the enemy. The
vast majority of ship hulls are constructed from common carbon steels, which are obviously
susceptible to corrosion, welding of thousands of steel plates, this creates numerous heat
affected zones, resulting in the areas of stress concentrations reduces fatigue life. These

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factors lead to higher maintenance costs. So, reinforced polymer and natural hybrid
composites are developed