An experimental investigation on the influence of fiber reinforcement on the mechanical and drilling behaviour of thermoset matrices

Abstract

newlineThe present research aims at analyzing the influence of abaca fiber and nanoclay on the mechanical behavior of thermoset polymers namely epoxy polyester and vinylester Among several natural fibers abaca fiber is selected as the reinforcement by analyzing the mechanical behavior of natural fiber reinforced polymer composites through mathematical and simulation approach It is surface treated using NaOH The nanoclay used in the study is Cloisite 15A The study analyses the combined effect of abaca fiber and nanoclay reinforcement on the drilling characteristics of epoxy composites The influence of synthetic Kevlar 49 fiber reinforcement on the drilling characteristics of epoxy composites is also studied Both abaca and Kevlar fiber based polymer composites are prepared by adopting hand lay-up followed by compression molding technique In abaca fiber based composite system the composition of fiber is varied from 10 40 wt To enhance the physical interaction between the fiber and the matrix the abaca fibers of 4 6 8 and 10 Vol are subjected to NaOH treatment For the polymer composites containing nanoclay and abaca fibers initially nanoclay is dispersed in epoxy resin through solution mixing Further the fibers are added with resin containing nanoclay through hand lay-up and finally the specimens are compression molded The nanoclay loading in epoxy resin is 1 2 and 3 wt