DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NATURAL FIBER REINFORCED THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITES

Abstract

The use of Polymer Matrix Composites (PMCs) has increased considerably over the last decade. The PMCs have been widely used because of their superior mechanical and physical properties such as high specific strength and high specific stiffness. Composite production techniques utilize various types of composite raw materials, including fibers, resins, mats, fabrics, prepregs, and molding compounds, for the fabrication of composite parts. Each manufacturing technique requires different types of material systems, different processing conditions, and different tools for part fabrication. Compression - molding is one of the process which utilises pressure, heat and time (curing time) as process parameters. In the present work, a compression molding setup has been developed to fabricate thermoplastic composites. The investigation focuses on the recommendation of the compression molding setup by testing the mechanical and environmental behaviour of the developed composites. The mechanical characterization include tensile and impact tests of PP/SF, PP/GOVF, PLA/SF, PLA/GOVF composites. The environmental characterization of these composites analyzes the water absorption rate and the effect of Ganga water and petrol absorption on their tensile strength