Expreimental Study on Mechanical and Tribological Properties of Biodegradable Natural Fiber Composites

Natural fibers are the low cost and environment friendly materials with improved mechanical properties which can be enhanced by combining natural fibers in different compositions. Over the last century, polymers have emerged as one of the most indispensable components used in everyday life, epoxy or poly-epoxide being one such example. Until recently, synthetic filler materials have been the preferred choice for reinforcement of epoxy to improve its toughness. However, natural filler and fibrous materials are emerging as suitable alternatives to synthetic materials for reinforcing polymers such as epoxy due to their environment friendliness, high abundance, renewability, and cost effectiveness. Several research efforts have been put to study the effectiveness of natural fiber-based materials on the mechanical behavior of epoxy composites, focusing mainly on fibers and their weight percentage within the composites. Snail shells and goat horns are rich in calcium and protein so that high strength is attained in composites. In this work, it is planned to fabricate composites with two natural fillers (snail shell powder and goat horn powder) and goat hair as fiber. The Composite specimens prepared are used to study the Mechanical and Tribological properties and compared with the other natural fiber-based composites. In this work, natural fiber composites are prepared with various combinations of fillers and fibers which are composed of Horn powder, Snail Shell powder as fillers. Composites are prepared using molds and are cut to ASTM standards and testing of mechanical properties and Tribological tests are also carried out on the composite specimens.