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Studies on Tensile and Flexural Properties of Short Banana/Glass Hybrid Fiber Reinforced Polystyrene Composites

School of Chemical Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University Priyadarshini Hills P.O., Kottayam-686 560, Kerala, India

Panampilly Bindu

School of Chemical Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University Priyadarshini Hills P.O., Kottayam-686 560, Kerala, India

Indose Aravind

School of Chemical Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University Priyadarshini Hills P.O., Kottayam-686 560, Kerala, India

Sabu Thomas

School of Chemical Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University Priyadarshini Hills P.O., Kottayam-686 560, Kerala, India, sabut{at}sancharnet.in, sabut552001{at}yahoo.com

The interest in natural fiber-reinforced polymer composites is growing rapidly due to its high performance in terms of mechanical properties, significant processing advantages, excellent chemical resistance, low cost, and low density. The development of composite materials based on the reinforcement of two or more fiber types in a single matrix, which leads to the production of hybrid composites. In the field of technical utilization of plant fibers, banana fiber-reinforced composites represent one of the most important areas. The influence of fiber content, fiber loading, and hybrid effect on the mechanical properties such as tensile strength, Young's modulus, elongation at break, and flexural properties of the composites, was evaluated. The volume fraction of glass fiber based on total fiber content increases all the mechanical properties, except elongation at break. The tensile and flexural properties of composites are observed to have improved as the fiber loading (vol%) increases. On the other hand, lack of good interfacial adhesion and poor resistance to moisture absorption make the use of natural fiber-reinforced composites less attractive. Modification of the banana fiber improves the optimum fiber-matrix properties. Hybrid effect was calculated using additive rule of hybrid mixtures. The comparison of theoretical and experimental values of tensile properties was determined using a number of models. All the models except parallel show good agreement with the experimental results.

Key Words: banana • glass • hybrid • composite.

Journal of Composite Materials, Vol. 42, No. 15, 1471-1489 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0021998308092194


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