CHARACTERIZATION AND SYNTHESIS OF NANO SISAL FIBER REINFORCED COMPOSITES

There has been a growing interest in utilizing natural fibres as reinforcement in polymer composite for making low cost construction materials in recent years. Economic and other related factors in many developing countries where natural fibers are abundant demand that scientists and engineers apply appropriate technology to utilize these natural fibres as effectively and economically as possible to produce good quality fibre reinforced polymer composites for housing and other needs. Among the various natural fibres, sisal is of particular interest in that its composites have high impact strength besides having moderate tensile and flexural properties compared to other lingo cellulosic fibres. The present work aims is to compare the tensile properties of sisal nano fibre reinforced polymer composites to glass fibre reinforced polymers composites. Initially sisal fibers are chemically treated with sodium hydroxide (NaoH) and hypo chlorite (Naclo) to extract the cellulose content present in the fibers. Chemically treated fibre size is reduced to nano level by using planetary ball milling machine. Ball milling was carried out for 10 hours. Chemically treated fibers are characterized by X-ray powder diffraction to measure their crystallite size. And to find the morphology and inorganic materials of the nano powder, scanning is performed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Composites were fabricated using Hand Lay-up process. Glass fibre reinforced polymer composites and sisal nano fibre reinforced polymer composites were fabricated. The tensile properties of composites are evaluated experimentally. It is observed the tensile strength of sisal nano fibre reinforced polymer composites have high strength compared to glass fibre reinforced polymer composites.