Certain investigations on characterization of calotropis gigantea fiber and its composites

Abstract

Increased environmental awareness and consciousness throughout the world has developed an increasing interest in natural fibers and their applications in various fields. Biomaterials are decomposable, bio degradable, renewable, low cost and available plenty in nature. They can be easily extracted from the plant and animal sources and are used as reinforcement in various polymers for the development of natural fiber composite materials. The properties of variety of natural fibers and their composites discussed extensively by past literatures paved a fresh opening for current researchers to develop new plant based fibers as good potential for producing newlinepolymer composites. In this continuation, the Calotropis Gigantea (CG) fiber is identified as a reinforcement material for the preparation of epoxy based thermoset composites. It is essential to assess mechanical and thermal properties of the Calotropis Gigantea fiber and its composites for identifying their potential as a promising material for various applications. The present investigation focuses on the characterization of fibers, alkaline treatment of fibers, fabrication of Calotropis Gigantea-Epoxy composites, evaluation of tensile, flexural, impact, hardness, water absorption and wear behaviours, regression modelling, optimization of properties using Multi Objective Genetic Algorithm procedure. newline newline