Characterization and Comparison of Natural and Synthetic Fiber Composite laminates

Composites are engineered materials made from two or more constituents with different physical or chemical properties, which remain separate and distinct within the finished structure. A fiber is a material, which is made into a long filament with diameter generally in the order of 10 microns. The aspect ratio of length to diameter can be ranging from thousands to infinity in continuous fibers. Increasing worldwide environmental awareness is encouraging scientific research into the development of cheaper, more environmentally friendly and more sustainable construction and packing materials. For environment concern on synthetic fiber (such as glass, carbon, ceramic gibers etc) natural fibers (such as flax, hemp, jute, kenai) etc are widely used. Industrial hemp fiber is one of the strongest of the natural fibers available and possesses benefits such as low cost and low production energy requirements. The primary objective of this research is to fabricate the natural fiber composites with suitable processing/manufacturing methods and to examine the mechanical properties when subjected to Tension, Bending and to compare & contrast the results with the available literature. In this research work, hemp fiber reinforced Epoxy matrix composites have been developed by hand layup method with varying process parameters, such as coupling agent(with and without compatibilizers) and different fiber percentages (10%,20% and 30% by weight). The developed composites were then characterized by tensile test and flexural testing. Results show that the tensile strength and flexural properties increases with the increase in fiber percentage. However after a certain percentage the tensile strength decreases again. Compared to untreated hemp fiber, no significant changes in the tensile strength have been observed for treated hemp fiber reinforcement. The flexural strength / modulus of the composite were higher compared to pure epoxy for all filler/fiber loadings.