CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Overview of composites

Composite materials are man-made materials which are manufactured with an aim of
replacing the conventional materials by overcoming their disadvantages. A composite
material has two main constituents namely, matrix and reinforcements. The reinforcements
or fibers are the main load carrying elements and it provides strength and rigidity to
composite whereas, matrix gives the shape to composite, maintains fiber alignment and
protects them against the environmental and possible damage. Composite materials are
broadly classified in to three types based on the matrices namely, polymer matrix composites
(PMC), metal matrix composites (MMC) and ceramic matrix composites (CMC).

A polymer matrix composite is otherwise called as Fiber Reinforced Plastics (FRP)

and uses polymeric resins like polyester, vinyl ester, poly-ether-ether-ketone (PEEK),
polyurethanes, etc as their matrix. A metal matrix composite uses metals as their matrix and
a ceramic matrix composite uses ceramics as their matrix. The reinforcements in all types of
composites may be synthetic fibers, metals, alloys, ceramics, natural fibers, etc. Among the
composites classified earlier, fiber reinforced plastics are widely used as structural elements
in aircraft, marine, civil and commercial sectors. Fiber reinforced plastics replace
conventional materials in all applications due to its tailor made properties.

In general, fiber reinforced plastics are made by using synthetic fibers like glass,
carbon, kevlar, etc and hence they are called as Synthetic Fiber Reinforced Plastics (SFRP).
Though they have several advantages like high strength, stiffness, fatigue life and wear
resistance, they also have disadvantages like high density, high cost, poor recycling and bio-
degradable properties. In order to overcome these disadvantages, natural fibers taken from
plants and animals are being used as reinforcements in recent few years as an alternative to
synthetic fibers.

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 Composites made by using natural reinforcements are called as Natural Fiber
Reinforced Plastics (NFRP). Bio-fibers like jute, sisal, vetiver, hemp, bamboo, etc are
abundantly available at a reasonable cost. These natural fibers when used as reinforcements
in composites provide very good mechanical properties and they are free from environmental
hazards. The research in the field of bio-fibers made huge changes to make it superior to
commercially available synthetic fibers. When these natural composites are made in the form
of structural components like, aircraft cabins, landing gear doors, floorings, etc they involve
several machining operations like drilling, milling, slotting and surface finishing.

Machining operations cause damages on the work pieces and tools due to developed
forces and other machining parameters. These damages and involved forces must be reduced
in order to improve the machinability. Increasing the machinability is an important issue for
manufacturing concerns in order to reduce the cost, time and labour. Hence a study on
machining associated failures in composites will helps the composite industries to
appropriately select optimum machining conditions and optimum selection of composite
constituents for improved machinability.

In the present study, new hybrid composites were developed by using three types of
reinforcements namely natural vetiveria zizanioides, natural jute and synthetic glass. These
fibers were reinforced in vinyl ester resin to form composite plates. These plates were cut
according to ASTM standards and their mechanical strengths have been investigated. Based
on their properties, best samples were selected. The selected samples were subjected to
drilling operations to study the machinability behaviour. A set of 28 experiments have been
conducted based on D-optimal design method during which, five responses namely, thrust
force, torque, surface roughness, damage factor at entry and damage factor at exit are
measured.

From the machinability investigations, optimum machining conditions are selected

and regression equations have been developed. The responses predicted by regression
equations for the experimental runs have been noted. A fuzzy model has been developed and
its predictions for experimental runs has been noted. A comparative analysis between
experimental values and regression values and between experimental values and fuzzy
values has been done.

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 Confirmatory runs have been conducted for the optimum set of conditions and the
responses are measured. The prediction of fuzzy for optimum set of conditions has also
noted. The average error between each analysis namely, D-optimal, confirmatory and fuzzy
has been calculated to validate the process of optimization.

1.2 Natural Fibers

Natural fibers are broadly classified in to three types namely, plant fibers, animal fibers
and mineral fibers. The plants fibers are of cellulosic nature and animal fibers are of protein
base which includes wool, silk, mohair etc and some examples for mineral fibers are
asbestos, ceramics and metals. Plant fibers are further divided on the basis of their origin.
For example cotton, kapok and coir are originated as hairs borne on the seeds and inner walls
of the fruit. Flax, jute, hemp and ramie are bast fibers which are taken from inner tissue of
the plant stems. Sisal and henequen are fibers taken from fibro-vascular system of leaves.
All plant fibers consist of varying proportions of celluloses such as hemicellulose, lignin,
pectin and wax. These substances must be reduced or completely removed by processing in
order to achieve better properties.

Figure 1.1. Structure of natural fiber

The structure of natural fibers at micro-level as presented in Figure 1.1 contains a

combination of hollow cellulosic fibrils which are held together by lignin and hemi-
cellulosic matrices. Each fiber contains a thin primary wall developed first during cell
growth encircling a secondary wall. The secondary wall contains three layers in which the
thick middle layer consists of a series of helically wound micro-fibrils which determines the

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properties of fiber (Mei-po Ho et al. 2012). The included angle between the axis and micro-
fibrils of the fiber is called the micro-fibrillar angle. This angle varies from one fiber to
another. The amorphous phase in the cell wall is complex and consist of hemi-cellulose,
lignin and pectin.

Table 1.1 Properties of natural and synthetic fibers

Fiber Density Diameter Tensile Young’s Failure

(g/cm3) (µm) Strength Modulus strain (%)
(MPa) (GPa)
Natural Fibers
Abaca 1.5 - 400 12 3-10
Alfa 0.89 - 350 22 5.8
Bagasse 1.25 490 70 17 -
Bamboo 0.88-1.1 100-200 391-713 18-55 1.3
Banana 1.35 - 500 12 5.9
Coconut - 100-450 131-175 4-13 15-40
Coir 1.2 - 175 4-6 30
Cotton 1.5-1.6 20 287-597 5-13 7-8
Curaua 1.38 66 913 50-70 3.9
Date Palm 1-1.2 - 97-196 2.5-5.4 2-4.5
Flax 1.5 50-100 345-1035 50-70 2.7-3.2
Hemp 1.1 120 389-900 35 1.6
Henequen 1.2 180 430-570 10-16 3.7-5.9
Isora 1.2-1.3 - 500-600 - 5-6
Jute 1.3 260 393-773 23-27 1.4
Kenaf 1.31 106 427-519 23-27 1.8
Licuri - 132-165 287-597 5-13 7-8
Nettle - - 650 38 1.7
Oil Palm 0.7-1.55 - 248 25 3.2
Palmyra Palm 1.2 300-320 276 8.99 3.08
Piassava 1.4 - 134-143 1.07-4.59 7.8-21.9
Pineapple 0.8-1.6 - 400-627 14.5 1.44
Ramie 1.5 34 560 24.5 2.5
Sisal 1.5 50-80 511-635 9.4-22 2.0-2.5
Softwood Kraft 1.5 - 1000 40 4.4
Spider Silk - - 875-972 11-13 17-18
Talipot - 80-800 143-263 10-13 5.1
Vetiver 1.5 100-220 247-723 12-49.8 1.6-2.4
Viscose (cord) - - 593 11 11.4
Wool - - 120-174 2.3-3.4 25-35
Synthetic fibers
Aramid 1.4 - 3000-3150 63-67 3.3-3.7
Carbon 1.4 5-9 4000 230-240 1.4-1.8
E-glass 2.5 9-15 2000-3500 70 2.5
S-glass 2.5 - 4570 86 2.8

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 The hemi-celluloses are hydrogen molecules bonded to cellulose and acts as cementing
matrix between the cellulose micro-fibrils thus forming cellulose/hemi-cellulose network
which is the main load bearing element of the fiber cell. The hydrophobic lignin network
affect acts as a coupling agent which increases the stiffness of cellulose/hemi-cellulose
matrix. The properties of important natural fibers in comparison with some common
synthetic fibers (Osorio et al. 2011; Leao et al. 2011; Libo Yan 2012; Thiruchitrambalam &
Shanmugam 2012; Yupaporn Ruksakulpiwat et al. 2007; Mei-po Ho et al. 2012; Verma et
al. 2013; Maya Jacob John & Rajesh Anandjiwala 2008) are presented in Table 1.

1.3 Production Technologies

Fiber reinforced plastics have been fabricated by several methods depending upon the
shape of component to be manufactured. All those methods fall under a principle called
polymerization. Polymerization is the process of joining large number of synthetic molecules
together to form a rigid structure. During this process additives like coupling agents, fillers
and pigments are added to improve the bonding, mechanical strength and to give colour to
the composites (Crawford 2002). Plastics are classified in to two types namely,
Thermoplastics and thermosetting plastics.

Thermoplastics are material in which the molecules are held together by weak Van der
Waals forces whereas in thermosetting plastics the molecules are arranged in long chains
with cross-linking of each chains to form a three dimensional structure. Thermoplastics
soften when it is heated and harden when it is cooled, hence they can be reused whereas
thermosetting plastics does not soften and hence they cannot be reused. Though
thermosetting plastics does not have reusability, they are very good in mechanical properties
when compared to thermoplastics. Hence, commercial plastics have been done by using
thermosetting plastics like polyester, vinyl ester, epoxies etc.

The selection of manufacturing method for composites depends on the shape of the
component to be made. The following are some important manufacturing methods:

 Hand Layup
 Spray Layup

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  Compression Moulding
 Filament Winding
 Injection Moulding

Hand layup and spray layup are some techniques for developing simple structures like
slabs, bath tubs and containers. In hand layup and spray layup methods, the resin and fiber
layers are alternatively placed by hand/spray gun and a dead weight is placed over it for
several hours for proper bonding of resin with fibers. In compression moulding, the charge
to be used in the mould is the sheet moulding compounds (SMC) which are initially prepared
by a suitable technique and these SMCs are laid one over the other inside the mould cavity.
Both pressure and heat are simultaneously applied over the charge by the ram during which,
the SMCs get fused and the molecules join together and spread over the mould surfaces in
the form of final finished product. The mould is then subjected to cooling before the
component is taken out.

Filament winding is the method for producing rods and bars of several cross sections.
In this method, the resin is spread over the rotating mandrel and fiber filaments are wound
around the mandrel with the help of suitable drive mechanism. This method is limited to
production of composites with only continuous fibers. Injection moulding is another
technique of producing required shape by injecting a mixture of broken/particulate fiber and
resin in to the die of required shape. The thermoplastic resin is made in the form of pellets
and are mixed with chopped fibers. This mixture is then fed by means of a hopper in to a
preheated compression chamber. The resin/fiber mixture get fused in the chamber in the
form of liquid and extruder screws are used to inject the liquid in to the die setup. The die is
subjected to cooling before the component is taken out of it.

1.4 Applications of Fiber Reinforced Plastics

Fiber reinforced plastics finds wide applications in the following industries:

 Aircraft industry
 Automotive industry
 Sports goods
 Marine industry

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 A major factor in selecting FRP for aircraft applications is the dimensional stability
over wide range of temperature, low specific gravity, high strength and high stiffness-weight
ratio. Composites can be produced with a coefficient of thermal expansion close to zero by
properly selecting the reinforcements. FRP are used as supporting structures for mirrors and
lenses in space telescope, truss members for low earth orbit and interplanetary satellites.
However, the major concern of susceptibility to degradation against atomic oxygen could be
overcome by wrapping the FRP with aluminium foils. FRP are majorly used in aircrafts as
interior paneling members.

Automotive components are broadly classified in to three groups: body components,

chassis components and engine components. Body components like door panels needs high
stiffness, dent resistance and surface finish. Flexible resins like polyurethane provides good
dent resistance when used as body components like radiator supports, bumper beams and
door frames. The first structural application of FRP in chassis is the Corvette leaf spring
which when used as a replacement for conventional materials provided 80 % weight savings
(Mallick 1993). FRP are also used in drive shafts and road wheels for light motor vehicles
like car and vans. Some other applications in automobiles are door panels, seat backs, dash
boards, transport pallets, trunk liners, rear parcel shelves, spare tyre covers, spare wheel pan
etc. The application of FRP as engine components is a biggest challenge due to reason of
high heat generation inside the engine.

FRP are widely used in sport goods due to its outstanding properties like weight
reduction, vibration damping and design flexibility. Especially, weight reduction of FRP
makes it used in high speed and quick maneuvering sport such as bicycle and canoe races.
Some major applications of FRP are tennis rackets, golf shafts, fishing rods, bicycle frames,
hockey sticks, arrows, javelins, helmets, sail boats, surfboards, snow boards etc. FRP have
been in the use of marine industry since 1940s. The important properties that makes FRP to
be used in marine industry are high tensile strength to weight ratio and high modulus to
weight ratio. These properties helps the ships for high cruising speed, acceleration,
maneuverability and fuel efficiency. Some major applications of FRP in ship are boat hulls,
decks, frames, bulkheads, spars and masts.

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 Apart from these applications, FRP have also been in civil and construction industries
as columns and pillars, seismic equipment, railing, bridge, siding profiles etc. FRP also find
applications in house hold items like table, chair, fencing elements, door panels, interior
paneling, window frames, door-frame profiles, food tray and electronic parts like mobile
cases and laptop cases (Mei-po Ho et al. 2012).

1.5 Need and objectives of the Present work

The increasing demand of FRP in various industries made researchers to look for
new cost effective and bio-degradable natural fibers as an alternative for synthetic fibers.
Many natural fibers have utilized by researchers along with several polymeric resins in the
form of composites and studied the physical, chemical and mechanical properties of the
developed composites. Some research investigations concluded that natural fibers are
equivalently performing with synthetic fibers and some reported that the natural fibers are
superior to synthetic fibers. Every fiber has its own properties. When multiple fibers are
included in a composite material, each fiber has its own primary properties. Hence, the
composite property will be a combination of all the primary properties of its constituents.
This will makes the composite with more good properties.

Although several natural fibers have been used, many natural fibers have not yet been
analyzed. Especially, the roots of plants are not used in the form of reinforcements in
composites. One among the several roots is the vetiver which has comparable properties with
other natural fibers. Composites developed by several methods and several shapes are
subjected to many machining operations like drilling, milling, turning, slotting etc.
Machining causes damages and failure to the developed composites and machining process.
As the ease of machining is an important objective to the manufacturing concerns, a study
to reduce the machining associated damages and failures will help the end users to
appropriately select the machining factors and optimum combination of fiber/matrix in
composite to achieve improved machinability.

Machining operations like drilling, milling and turning have been done elaborately in
synthetic fiber composites and very few in natural fiber composites. Research investigations
in the field of machining of polymeric composites dealt with influence of various machining

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factors on machinability and selection of optimized level for these factors. The fibers present
in composite plays a vital role not only in deciding the mechanical properties also have a
major contribution in deciding machinability. Hence, the present work is carried out with the
following objectives:

 To synthesis the raw vetiver fibers by giving chemical treatment and heat treatment in
order to improve its surface properties.

 To develop ten new hybrid composites samples by using two natural reinforcements
namely, vetiver and jute and a synthetic reinforcement namely E-glass in different
proportions.

 To test the mechanical properties like, tensile, flexural, compression and impact
strengths of the developed composites and to make a comparative analysis between
each samples.

 To analyze the stress-strain behaviour of each sample and to study the strain behaviour
of samples.

 To select three best samples based on the property analysis and to make a comparative
micro-structure study between pre-treated vetiver samples and untreated vetiver
samples.

 To perform a set of drilling operations based on D-optimal design method on the

selected samples by varying speed, feed, tool angle and work sample and to measure
the output responses namely thrust force, torque, surface roughness, damage factor at
entry and damage factor at exit.

 To perform regression analysis and to make a comparative study between regression-

based responses and experimental based responses.

 To study the relationship between each response and input factors by using interaction
and three dimensional plots.

 To study the influence of natural fibers and synthetic fibers present in the composite
on machinability.

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  To optimize the machining conditions with an aim of minimizing the responses and to
select the optimum machining conditions for drilling.

 To conduct confirmatory runs for optimum conditions and to measure the output
responses for validation.

 To develop a fuzzy model for the developed design and to note the fuzzy predictions
for optimum conditions.

 To make a comparative analysis for optimum conditions between each model namely,
D-optimal and confirmatory and between D-optimal and fuzzy and to measure the
average error between each analysis.

 To select the best sample for improved machinability behaviour and to conclude that
the natural fiber reinforced composites behaves good considering both mechanical
performance and machinability performance.

The Scheme of the present research work is presented in Figure 1.2.

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 Machinability studies on fiber reinforced composite materials

Material Development

Chemical pre-treatment Heat treatment to Vetiver Composite preparation

to Vetiver root fibers root fibers by Hand layup

Mechanical Characterization

Tensile, Flexural, Compression Micro-structure study

and Impact testing

Selection of best samples

Drilling on selected samples by using D-optimal design

Response measurement

Optimization

Validation of results

Confirmatory runs Fuzzy modelling and validation

Comparative study between D-optimal,

confirmatory and Fuzzy

Conclusions

Figure 1.2. Scheme of Research work

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1.6 Organization of the Thesis

Chapter 1 deals with an elaborate introduction to natural fibers present in nature,

different types of natural fibers and their properties, classification of composite materials
based on their matrices, production technologies and applications of composite materials and
the need of the present research work.

Chapter 2 discusses about the literature survey for the present work. The literature
was broadly classified under three heading namely mechanical characterization,
machinability issues and response surface methodology. Each heading clearly explains about
important literatures available and the issues discussed in those literatures.

Chapter 3 explains about the properties of various reinforcements and resin used for
the present work, the chemical pretreatment given to the natural fibers, chemical formation
of resin and production method of composite samples. In addition, the chapter also addresses
about the ASTM standards testing methods adopted in the present work for measuring the
mechanical strengths.

Chapter 4 presents an elaborate discussions on mechanical properties of all developed

samples like tensile strength, compressive strength, flexural strength and impact strengths.
A comparative analysis of mechanical properties between each samples was addressed. The
chapter also presents the microstructural defects and enhancement of those defects in the
selected samples.

Chapter 5 discusses about the experimental details for drilling like machining setup,
tools and apparatus used for response measurement. The chapter also gives a clear picture
of statistical procedure used in the present work for design, analysis and optimization.

Chapter 6 presents a detailed discussion on the results obtained through statistical

design. Here the behaviour of output responses namely thrust force, torque, surface
roughness, damage at entry and damage at exit under varying input conditions were
discussed. The chapter also gives elaborate discussion on regression analysis carried out in
the design.

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 Chapter 7 deals with the optimization procedure made for the study, the procedures
of confirmatory runs conducted and a detailed procedure of fuzzy modelling. In addition, the
chapter also discusses about the predictions drawn from fuzzy modelling for both
experimental trial runs and for the optimum conditions. The model validation done by
comparing the model with confirmatory runs and with the fuzzy results were also addressed
in the chapter.

Chapter 8 concludes the research work with a brief summary of the work carried out
and major conclusions drawn from the study. The chapter also gives more ideas on how to
extend the research work in future for researchers.

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