Characterization of pongamia pinnata L fibers and mechanical properties of Pongamia pinnata l fiber reinforced Epoxy composites

Abstract

Current environmental policies and laws implemented around the globe restrict the usage of non-biodegradable materials, which drive the material investigators to explore substitutable biodegradable material for various applications presently used. Plant fibre reinforced composites are considered as one of the alternate for non bio-degradable materials because of its helpful properties namely eco-friendliness, cheaper manufacturing cost, lesser density and simple fabrication techniques followed. Plant fibres also having few disadvantages, such as hydrophilicity, dimensional instability and variations in fibre properties. However, hydrophilicity and moisture up taking behaviour of the plant fiber can be reduced through a suitable surface modification technique. In this research, a bark fibre, namely Pongamia Pinnata Fiber (PPF), was extracted through combined water retting and Mechanical combing. Initially, fundamental studies such as chemical compositional evaluation, density measurement, crystallographic evaluation, thermal studies, surface topographical analysis and single fibre testing were conducted for the raw PPF. Chemical compositional evaluation publicized the considerably higher cellulose (62.34wt. %) and lower hemicellulose (14.57 wt. %), lignin (12.54 wt. %) and wax (0.74 wt. %) composition in the raw PPF. Different functional groups and associated chemical composition in the raw PPF were resolute using FTIR analysis. The crystallinity index (45.31%) and crystalline size (5.43 nm) of raw PPF were estimated with the aid of XRD analysis. Thermal stability (210°C), maximum degradation temperature (332°C) and kinetic activation energy (68.642 KJ/mol) of raw PPF were observed with the aid of thermo gravimetric, derivative thermo gravimetric and broido curve of raw PPF, respectively. The tensile strength (322 ±16.10), modulus (9.67±0.144) and strain rate (2.09±0.214%) of raw PPF was calculated through the single fibre tensile testing. The outcomes of scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscopic analysis expressed the existence of smooth surface in raw PPF, which suggested surface modification to raw PPF before use as reinforcement in plastics. newline newline newline