Abstract
Abstract
The present study attempts to fabricate lightweight polymer composites with superior physical, mechanical, and insulating properties by vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) technique. This produces bidirectional woven palm fiber epoxy composites with four different fiber loading i.e. 27, 28, 29, and 30 Wt%. The epoxy composite processed with VARTM technique has been characterized by physical, mechanical, and thermal properties along with increasing fiber loading. The test results signified that the mechanical properties including tensile, interlaminar shear, hardness, and impact strength improve with fiber loading. The maximum tensile strength and tensile modulus were observed at a fiber loading of 30 wt%, resulting in values of 64.852 MPa and 3.74 GPa, respectively. The recorded ILSS values for the epoxy composites loaded with 30 wt% were found to be 7.28 MPa. The observed improvements in the mechanical characteristics of the composite produced by the VARTM technology can be attributed to the enhanced interfacial bonding between the matrix and discontinuous prepreg fiber (DPF). The identification of a superior composite, known as DPF-4, was achieved through the incorporation of 30 wt% of bi-directional palm fiber loading. This resulted in notable improvements in the mechanical properties of the composite, as a significant enhancement of 311% and 173% in tensile and impact strength, respectively. These mechanically strengthened epoxy composites could be used as low-grade housing, structural, and automobile component applications.