Fracture Behaviour of Chemically Treated Reshira-Epoxy Composite and Optimization of Parameters for Composite Fabrication

Abstract

Natural fiber composite is nowadays used as an alternative to conventional materials. In this work, the natural fibre, Reshira is tried with epoxy resin, for the first time, as a composite material to be used for various applications. The reshira fiber is chemically treated with sodium hydroxide for better adhesion between fibre and resin. The reshira fiber–epoxy composite is fabricated with varying chemical concentrations of sodium hydroxide solution, fiber lengths and fiber volume fractions. The composite samples are subjected to tensile, flexural and impact tests and the optimum composition that produces maximum mechanical performance is selected. Further the optimum sample is tested for its fracture toughness property.