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Manufacturing of Banana Fiber Composite Material

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AEGAEUM JOURNAL ISSN NO: 0776-3808

Manufacturing of Banana Fiber Composite Material

Popat B. Asabe1, Shrikrushna Bhosale2, Sandeep S. Wangikar3,

Vidya, G. Kalebag4, Onkar L. Mahajan5, Avinash K. Parkhe6

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6
Department of Mechanical Engineering, SVERI’s, College of Engineering, Pandharpur
Email: pbasaabe@coe.sveri.ac.in, sbbhosale@coe.sveri.ac.in, sswangikae@coe.sveri.ac.in,
vgkalebag@coe.sveri.ac.in, olmahajan@coe.sveri.ac.in, akparkhe@coe.sveri.ac.in

Abstract: World is now concentrating on alternate material sources that are environment friendly and
recyclable in nature. Because of the expanding natural concerns, bio composite produced out of regular fiber
and polymeric resin, is one of the late advancements in the business and establishes the present extent of
experimental work. The use of composite materials field is increasing gradually in engineering. The
composite consists of mainly two phases i.e. matrix and fiber. The availability of characteristic fiber and
simplicity of assembling have induced inventors worldwide to attempt by regional standards accessible
inexpensive fiber and to learning their possibility of protection determinations and to what degree they fulfill
the thankful facts of great strengthened polymer composite aimed at structural application. Fiber reinforced
polymer composites has frequent preferences, for example, generally minimal effort of creation, simple to
create and better quality difference than perfect polymer due to this reason fiber strengthened polymer
composite utilized within an variety of provision as class of structure material. Composite materials are
emerging chiefly in response to fulfill demands from technology due to rapidly advancing activities in
aircrafts, aerospace and automotive industries. Natural fibers have recently attracted the attention of
scientists and technologists because of the advantages that these fibers provide over conventional
reinforcement materials, and the development of bio fiber composites has been a subject of interest for the
past few years. The present work focuses on manufacturing of banana fiber/epoxy resin composite at 30%,
40% and 50% volume fractions of banana fiber and different fiber orientation 0 0, 450& 90.0.

Keywords: Banana Fiber, Volume Fraction, Fiber orientation.

1. INTRODUCTION
The advantage of composite materials over conventional materials stem largely
from their higher specific strength, stiffness and fatigue characteristics, which enables
structural design to be more versatile. By definition, composite materials consist of two or
more constituents with physically separable phases. However, only when the composite
phase materials have notably different physical properties it is recognized as being a
composite material. Composites are materials that comprise strong load carrying material
(known as reinforcement) imbedded in weaker material (known as matrix).
Reinforcement provides strength and rigidity, helping to support structural load. The
matrix or binder (organic or inorganic) maintains the position and orientation of the
reinforcement. Significantly, constituents of the composites retain their individual,
physical and chemical properties; yet together they produce a combination of qualities
which individual constituents would be incapable of producing alone. The reinforcement
may be platelets, particles or fibers and are usually added to improve mechanical
properties such as stiffness, strength and toughness of the matrix material. Long fibers
that are oriented in the direction of loading offer the most efficient load transfer. This is
because the stress transfer zone extends only over a small part of the fiber-matrix
interface and perturbation effects at fiber ends may be neglected. In other words, the
ineffective fiber length is small. Popular fibers available as continuous filaments for use
in high performance composites are glass, carbon fibers. [1-4]
The biggest advantage of modern composite materials is that they are light as well as
strong. By choosing an appropriate combination of matrix and reinforcement material, a
new material can be made that exactly meets the requirements of a particular application.
Composites also provide design flexibility because many of them can be molded into
complex shapes. The downside is often the cost. Although the resulting product is more
efficient, the raw materials are often expensive. [5-8]

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2. Objectives
The main objectives of current research work which are outlined as follows:
1. To Study banana fiber natural composite.
2. To Manufacture banana fiber composite material with different fiber
orientation and different volume fraction.
3. To prepare the banana fiber composite specimen for Tensile and Flexure test.
.
3. Manufacturing Procedure of Laminates

3.1. Material Selection:

3.1.1. Matrix Material:

Epoxy resin 520 and Epoxy hardener-PAM. The epoxy resin and epoxy hardener were
mixed in the ratio of 10:1 by the weight as suggested. The epoxy resin has the density of
1.22 g/cc. The Epoxy Resin-520 and Epoxy hardener-PAM were mixed in the ratio of
10:1 by weight as suggested. Epoxy resin and hardener mixture was stirred thoroughly
before fiber mats were introduced in the matrix material. Each laminate was cured under
constant pressure near about 24hr in the mould and further cured at room temperature at
least 12 hrs. [9-10]
The Epoxy resin(LY-556) is taken as matrix binder is supplied by Ciba Geigy India Ltd.
Commonly epoxy resin has good mechanical and thermal properties.

Figure 1. Epoxy Resin LY 556

Properties of Epoxy resin LY-556:

1. Visual aspect – Clear, pale yellow liquid
2. Viscosity at 250 C – 10000-12000 MPa s
3. Density at 250 C – 1.15-1.20 gm/cm3
4. Flash point – 1950 C
3.1.2. Hardener:
For getting the properties to be improved, the resin should undergo curing reaction in
which the liner epoxy resin structure changes to form three-dimensional cross-linked
thermo set structure. This curing reaction takes place by adding a curing agent called
hardener in a ratio of 10:1 to Epoxy resin. The following reaction is an exothermic
reaction of resin takes place. The curing agent or hardener is triethyltetramine (HY-951)
is also supplied from Ciba Geigy India Ltd.

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Figure 2. Hardener HY 951

Properties of hardener HY-951:
1. Density = 0.95 gm/cm3
2. Melting point = 120 C (lit.)
3. Boiling point = 266-2670 C (lit.)
4. Water solubility= SOLUBLE
5. Flash point = 143.330C

3.1.3. Fiber Material:

The banana fiber (Figure 3.7) is obtained from banana plant, which has been collected
from local sources. The extracted banana fiber were subsequently sun dried for eight
hours then dried in oven for 24 hours at 105° C to remove free water present in the
fiber.

Figure 3. Banana Fiber

3.2. Fabrication:
Products made from conventional materials, such a metals, and plastics, finished products
are produced from raw materials. First, raw material (e.g. sheet metal of an alloy) is
produced, and then using that raw material, the final product (e.g. door panel of a car) is
fabricated. In contrast; the same is not necessarily true of products made from composite
materials. For instance, a structural composite plate involves simultaneous creation of the
product as well as the material. This is particularly true for composites with thermo set
matrix materials. In such a case, the raw materials are matrix (e.g. epoxy) and fibers (e.g.
graphite fibers). These materials are processed to produce composite plate, and the
material properties of composite are entirely different than those of its individual
constituents. Further, production of this composite material and the plate occurs
simultaneously. In other cases, a “primitive” version of composite is formed first (e.g.
prepress), and this pre‐forced composite is later given the shape of final product by
application of pressure and temperature. However, even in such cases, the properties of
the “primitive” composite material, and those of final product, may be significantly
different. In case of composites with thermoplastics matrix materials, the situation may be
somewhat different. Here, quite often, composite material is first produced, and then
subsequently given desired shape separately. However, even here, the process of giving
desired shape to composite may alter properties of composite, due to a variety of factors
including fiber length reduction, change of fiber orientation, and thermal degradation.

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Overall, composite materials are produced through a large number of processes. The
choice of a specific production method strongly depends on chemical attributes of matrix,
and also the nature of final product’s shape. Thermo set composites are fabricated either
using “wet‐forming” processes, or processes which used premixes or prepregs.In
wet‐forming processes, resin in fluid state is used, while forming the final product. The
resin gets cured in the product while the resin is “wet”. This curing may be aided by
application of external heat and pressure. Overall, composite materials are produced
through a large number of processes. The choice of a specific production method strongly
depends on chemical attributes of matrix, and also the nature of final product’s shape. So
we have chosen hand layup process for manufacturing of laminates. The detailed
procedure is explained below: [11]
1. Place the wooden plate (Mould) on the plane surface.

Figure 4. (Step 1) wooden plate (Mould) on the plane surface

2. Prepare the mixture of epoxy and hardener with 10:1 ratio.

Figure 5. (Step 2) mixture of epoxy and hardener

3. Apply the wax for easy removal

Figure 6. (Step 3) Wax

4. Apply the cut sample of banana fiber.

Figure 7. (Step 4) Application of Banana Fiber

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5) Curing for 6 to 8 hours.

Figure 8. (Step 5) Curing

6) Manufactured plate

Figure 9. (Step 6) Final Manufactured Plates

Table 1. Details of different orientation, volume, percentage of banana fiber and epoxy

Calculations of volume fractions:

We have selected the dimensions of laminates considering the test requirement and
number of tests.
Volume of plate = 300 ×150 ×3 ×10-9
Volume of plate = 1.35 × 10-4 m3
Vc1 = 1.35 × 10-4 × 0.3
Vc1 =4.05 × 10
Vc2 = 1.35 × 10-4 × 0.40
VC2 =5.4 ×10-5 m3
Vc3 =1.35 × 10-4 × 0.50
VC3=6.75×10-5 m3
Mass of banana fiber:
Mc1 = 4.05 ×10-5 × 972.97 × 1000
Mc1 = 39.40gm
Mc2 = 5.4 × 10-5 × 972.97 × 1000
Mc2 = 52.54g
Mc3 = 6.75 × 10-5 × 972.97 ×1000
Mc3 = 65.68gm
Where,
Vc1 = Volume fraction of composite one
Vc2 = Volume fraction of composite two

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Vc3 = Volume fraction of composite three

Mc1 = Mass of banana fiber for composite 30/70 configuration
Mc2 = Mass of banana fiber for composite 40/60 configuration
Mc3 = Mass of banana fiber for composite 50/50 configuration

Table 2 Configuration of Laminates

3.3. Cutting of Specimen with respect to Orientation:

The specimens were cut in different orientations of 0, 45 and 90 in angle. Though three
different configuration of the fiber orientations 0, 45and 90 for different volume fraction
30%, 40% and 50%are selected for our study.

Figure 10. Composite Specimens

Figure 11. Specimens for tensile test

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4. CONCLUSION
A detailed study has been conducted on the manufacturing of banana fiber/epoxy
composite on the basis of different volume fraction and fiber orientation. The study led to
the conclusions mention, epoxy resin reinforced with fiber has been fabricated by hand
lay-up method.

REFERENCES:
[1] Santhosh, N. Balanarasimman,et.al, “study of properties of banana fiber Reinforced composite”,
International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology Nov2014.
[2] Rozman H.D., Tan K.W., Kumar R.N., Ishak Z.A.M., Ismail H., (2000). “The effect of Lignin as a
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[3] Rout, J., Misra, M., Tripathy, S. S., Nayak, S. K., &Mohanty, A. K. (2001).”The Influence of fibber
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[4] Monteiro S.N., Terrones L.A.H., D’Almeida J.R.M., (2008). “Mechanical performance of coir
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