Imapact of Chemical Treatment and Bonding Agents on Mechanical Behavior of Polymer-Coir/Banana Natural Cellulose Fiber Hybrid Composite

Abstract

Currently day by day most of the mechanical and supporting structures being replaced with the composite materials due to their dominating mechanical strength to weight ratio. The properties of the composite material depends on the type of the fiber i.e., natural or synthetic, size of the fiber (short or long), type of the resin etc and so on. The specialized properties are in demand by most of the industries can be achieved by using the hybrid polymer composites. The chemical or alkali treatment of natural fibers affects the properties of the composite material. The bonding agents between different compounds in the composite material also play the vital role in changing the properties of the composite material. In the present work, the effect of the chemical treatment and coupling agents on the properties of the hybrid composite material were studied. Sodium hydroxide is used as chemical treatment agent and maleic anhydride polypropylene (MAPP) used as coupling agent. Coir/banana short fiber hybrid composite with polypropylene matrix is used as composite material. The effects of these agents on the tensile strength, Young’s modulus, flexural strength, flexural modulus and impact strength have been studied.