Trends in Machine design

Evaluating the Mechanical Behaviors of Acacia Nilotica Reinforced Polymer Composite with and without Coupling Agent

  1. M. Ganesh
  2. Retna Siga E.
  3. Livingston T

Abstract

Over the last thirty years composite materials, plastics and ceramics have been the dominant emerging materials. The volume and number of applications of composite materials have grown steadily, penetrating and conquering new markets relentlessly. Modern composite materials constitute a significant proportion of the engineered materials market ranging from everyday products to sophisticated applications. While composites have already proven their worth as weight-saving materials. Attractive composite components have resulted in several innovative manufacturing techniques currently being used in the composites industry. In this work, Acacia Nilotica has been characterized for their mechanical  properties with the various volume ratio of fiber-matrix compositions. The volume ratios that taken into count for the fabrication are 20–80%, 30–70%, 40–60% fiber-matrix. The hand layup method is opted for the fabrication of the composite. The coupling agent can improve the mechanical properties without any compromisation in the composition of the fiber content. The experimental work  shows that the tensile strength was increased by 25–30%  and flexural strength was increased by 15–20%.  Thus by adding the coupling agent to a natural fiber the strength can improve with the same composition. And also the SEM Analysis indicates that the materials are uniformly distributed. Keywords: Aacia Nilotica, Particulate composites, Tensile test, Flexural test, Impact test, WCA-With coupling agent, WOCA-without coupling agent

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