Investigation on the effect of Chemical treatments and Hybridization of spinifex littoreus Reinforced polymer composites

Abstract

The quest for newer materials is going on high with the ever-increasing engineering requirements. There is a recent trend of replacing the composites made of synthetic fibers with those made of natural fibers in key applications including wind turbine blades. Various natural fibers such as abaca, alpaca, balsa, bamboo, cotton, coir, flax and jute have been identified to be suitable for such applications. The availability, low density, low cost, non corrosive and more importantly the eco-friendly nature of these fibers attract the industries to be more interested in their usage. The present work deals with the characterization of a newly identified natural fiber, chemically treating it and making composites including a hybrid composite. Certain chemical treatments are always necessary for modification of the properties of natural fibers. Mechanical evaluation, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, thermo gravimetric (TGA) analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis etc have been employed to characterize the natural fibers and composites. Natural fiber composites are largely utilized in automobile manufacturing industries. Identification of an appropriate natural fiber may have unimaginable applications in future. There is no other literature describing the characteristics of spinifex littoreus fiber. No fiber possesses all the desirable properties together. Hence it is motivated to extract this fiber, chemically modify and make composites.Spinifex littoreus fiber (SLF) is extracted from the stem of the plants by subjecting to material degradation process and combing. Characterization tests have been conducted on the fiber to assess the suitability for making a good composite. newline