FABRICATION AND EVALUATION OF

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF BANANA FIBER

REINFORCED EPOXY COMPOSITES

JAHNAVI CHANDRIKA NARAHARISETTY

Regd No. 173C1D1505

Under the guidance of

Prof T. RAVI KUMAR
Department of Mechanical Engineering
D.M.S S.V.H COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
MACHILIPATNAM
(Affiliated to JNTUK, Kakinada)
 ABSTRACT
In the fast developing world, Natural fiber reinforced composites are gaining
attention in recent days due to eco-friendly nature, sustainability, low cost and
easy availability. The concern for the environmental pollution and the prevention
of non-renewable and non-biodegradable resources has attracted researchers
seeking to develop new eco-friendly materials and products based on
sustainability principles.
The fibers from the natural sources provide indisputable advantages over
synthetic reinforcement materials such as low density, non toxicity, comparable
strength and minimum waste disposal problems. In the present work, banana fiber
reinforced epoxy composites are prepared and mechanical properties of these
composites are evaluated. The composite samples with different fiber orientations
were prepared by using the hand lay-up process and apply pressure at room
temperature. The samples were subjected to mechanical testing such as tensile,
flexural and impact loading.
 INTRODUCTION
What is a composite?

• A composite is a structural material which consists

of combining two or more constituents
• Examples:
○ Flesh in your leg reinforced with bones
○ Concrete reinforced with steel
○ Epoxy reinforced with graphite fibers.
 Fibrous Composites

➢Generally there are two phases

– Fiber as a reinforcement
– Matrix as a binder
 Types of Composites
There are several different types of composites used today. The most common are:

Fibre reinforced composites Particulate reinforced composites

 Merits of Composite Materials
Composites can be very strong and stiff, yet very light in weight, so ratios of
strength-to-weight and stiffness-to-weight are several times greater than steel or
aluminium
High specific strength and High specific stiffness
Long fatigue life
High creep resistance
Low coefficient of thermal expansion
 Low density Low thermal conductivity
Better wear resistance
Improved corrosion resistance
Better temperature dependent behaviour
 Applications of Composite
Materials
 Space craft: Antenna structures, Solar reflectors, Satellite structures, Radar, Rocket
engines, etc.
 Aircraft: Jet engines, Turbine blades, Turbine shafts, Compressor blades, Airfoil
surfaces, Wing box structures, Fan blades, Flywheels, Engine bay doors, Rotor
shafts in helicopters, Helicopter transmission structures, etc
 Bearing materials, Pressure vessels, Abrasive materials, Electrical machinery, Truss
members, Cutting tools, Electrical brushes, etc
 Automobile: Engines, bodies, Piston, cylinder, connecting rod, crankshafts, bearing
materials, etc.
 Fiber reinforced polymer
composites (FRP)
 For an FRP is a specific type of two-component composite material consisting of high
strength fibers embedded in a polymer matrix.
 The fibers are mainly responsible for strength and stiffness properties, the polymeric
matrix contributes to load transfer and provides environmental protection.
 The fibers provide the strength and stiffness of an FRP. Because the fibers used in most
structural FRP applications are continuous and are oriented in specified directions, FRPs
are orthotropic, and they are much stronger and stiffer in the fiber direction(s).
 Methods of fabrication
CLASSIFICATION OF METHODS OF FABRICATION:
• Hand lay-up method
• Spray lay-up method
• Vacuum bagging method
 LITERATURE REVIEW
• [1] C.Lakshman, T.R.Sydanna, M.NagaKiran, ” Mechanical Performance and
Analysis of Banana Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composites”, International
Journal of Scientific Research Engineering &Technology (IJSRET) //Volume // 6
// Issue // 5 //May // 2017 // ISSN (e): // 2278 - 0882 : In this work from analysis
by using ANSYS software by changing the volume fraction of the fiber from the
stresses, strains and displacement values are decreased.
• [2] Naveen P G, Ravindra Babu G , “Experimental investigation of Mechanical
Characteristics and Vibration Analysis of Banana Fiber Reinforced
Composites”, The International Journal of Research in Engineering and
Technology (IJRET) // eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308 // 2016: From all
the three tests, it can be concluded that 20%-80% Fiber Epoxy composition is the
best ratio due to strong interaction between the fiber and epoxy. It can be used to
prepare the composites which are suitable for medium strength applications.
 LITERATURE REVIEW
• [3] Pavan kumar.B , John paul Vas, Shreeranga Bhat, Karthik Madyastha N. “ A
Study on the Vibration Characteristics Of Bagasse-Banana Fibre Hybrid
Composite” International Journal of Composite Materials // 2017 // 7 (5): 150-
154 // DOI: 10.5923: In this work, reinforcement with epoxy has a favourable
influence on natural frequency of specimen because significant increase was
observed.
• [4] Yugal S. Bagrecha, Raj B. Tailor , M.Ramachandran , P.P.Raichurkar ” An
Effect of Banana Fiber Size on Banana Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composites
with Coconut Shell Powder as Filler” , International Journal of Mechanical and
Production Engineering Research and Development (IJMPRED) // ISSN(P):
2249-6890 // ISSN(E): 2249-8001 // 2018 // 150-155 :The hardness of banana
fiber reinforced epoxy composite material with coconut shell powder as filler is
decreased with respect to increase in short banana fiber length as per tests.
 LITERATURE REVIEW
• [5]M.Rajesh, Jeyaraj Pitchaimani, N. Rajini “Free Vibration Characteristics of
Banana/Sisal Natural Fibers Reinforced Hybrid Polymer Composite Beam” Science
Direct //12th International Conference on Vibration Problems(ICOVP 2015) // Procedia
Engineering // 144(2016) // 1055-1059 // 1877-7058: The chemical treatment increases
the modulus of the material and increases the stiffness of the composite.
• [6] J. Santhosh , N. Balanarasimman , R. Chandrasekar, S.Raja “ Study of Properties of
Banana Fiber Reinforced Composites” International Journal of Research in Engineering
and Technology (IJRET) // Volume // 3 // Issue // 11 // 2014 // eISSN:2319-1163 //pISSN:
2321-7: In this work, The alkali treated specimens has provided better mechanical
properties than untreated specimens.
 SCOPE OF THE WORK
• The main objective of this work is to study the effect of mechanical properties of
banana fiber reinforced epoxy composites with fiber orientations of (+300,-300)
(+450,-450) (+600,-600).
• The fiber oriented composite specimens are prepared using hand lay-up method are
tested to observe Tensile strength, Tensile modulus, Flexural strength, Flexural
modulus, Impact strength.
• Universal Testing Machine and Impact Tester machine with all necessary inputs are
utilized for experimentation.
 fabrication
• The hand layup method is the simplest method of composite fabricating and low tool
costing and obtains smooth surface finish.
 analysis
• Procedure for Structural Analysis :
• Creation of a beam shape to analyze.
• Input of the beam geometry to analyze
• Sizing of the elements
• Meshing
• Definition of constraint conditions Selection of nodes
• Solution Procedures
 Results

Tensile stress (+30°,-30°)

Tensile strain (+30°,-30°)
Tensile stress (+45°,-45°) Tensile strain (+45°,-45°)
Tensile stress (+60°,-60°) Tensile strain (+60°,-60°)
Meshing of flexural composite specimen flexural stress (+30°,-30°)
Fig 5.4.2: flexural strain (+30°,-30°)
Flexural stress (+45°,-45°)
Flexural strain (+45°,-45°)
Flexural stress (+60°,-60°) Flexural strain (+60°,-60°)
Meshing of Impact composite specimen
Impact stress (+300,-300) Impact stress (+450,-450)
Impact stress (+600,-600)
 TESTING OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS

Universal Testing Machine Impact Testing Machine

Tensile Specimens before tensile test Tensile specimens after tensile test
Flexural specimens before flexural test Tensile specimens after tensile test
Impact specimens before impact test impact specimens after impact test
 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

10.5

Tensile test values for banana fiber specimens 10

Tensile strength(N/mm2)
Fiber Average Tensile Tensile Tensile 9.5
Orientation load strength(N/mm2) strain modulus(N/mm2
(o) values of ) 9
samples
8.5
(+300 -300) 463.34 9.268 0.005 1853.6
(+450 -450) 420 8.400 0.0062 1354.83
8
(+600 -600) 503.34 10.068 0.0006 1678
7.5
1 2 3

Tensile Strength Vs Fiber Orientation

 2000

Tensile modulus(N/mm2)
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
1 2 3

Tensile Modulus Vs Fiber Orientation

 10.5

Flexural strength(N/mm2)
10

Flexural Test values for banana fiber specimen 9.5

9
Fiber Average Deflection(mm) Flexural Flexural
strength(N/mm2) modulus(N/mm2) 8.5
orientation(0) load
values (N) 8
0 0
(+30 -30 ) 86.67 1.067 8.125 1269.53 7.5
(+450 -450) 110 1.73 10.3125 1611.32
1 2 3
(+600 -600) 170 1.5 15.9375 2490.23
fiber orientation(0)

Flexural Modulus Vs Fiber orientation

Flexural strength(N/mm2)
(+30°-30°) (+45°-45°) (+60°-60°)

Flexural Strength Vs Fiber orientation

 0.035

Impact strength(j/mm)
0.03
Impact test values for banana fiber specimens 0.025
0.02
Fiber Energy absorbed by the specimen(j) Impact strength(j/mm) 0.015
orientation(0) 0.01
(+300 -300) 0.22 0.022 0.005
(+450 -450) 0.184 0.0184 0
(+600 -600) 0.2967 0.02967 (+30°-30°) (+45° -45°) (+60°-60°)

Fiber orientation(0)

IMPACT STRENGTH VS FIBER ORIENTATION

 Properties & orientations Experimental results Simulation results
Tensile strength
RESULT ANALYSIS
(+300,-300) 9.268 10.397
(+450,-450) 8.400 9.426
(+600,-600) 10.068 11.297
Tensile strain
(+300,-300) 0.005 0.039
(+450,-450) 0.0062 0.0071
(+600,-600) 0.006 0.004
Flexural stress
(+300,-300) 8.125 8.110
(+450,-450) 10.3125 10.293
(+600,-600) 15.9375 15.908
Flexural strain
(+300,-300) 0.01067 0.0155
(+450,-450) 0.0173 0.0197
(+600,-600) 0.015s 0.013
Impact strength
(+300,-300) 0.022 0.020
(+450,-450) 0.0184 0.0178
(+600,-600) 0.02967 0.02460

Comparison of Experimental results and Simulation results

 CONCLUSION

From the above study the following conclusions are made:

 The main purpose of this project, fabrication and evaluation of mechanical properties of Banana fiber reinforced epoxy composites is achieved through
appropriate simulation method and the results are verified with the experimental results obtained from Universal Testing Machine (UTM) and Impact tester
machine.
 Analysis is carried out in ANSYS software and results were studied clearly.
 The composite with 600 fiber orientation has shown better tensile strength, flexural strength and impact strength.
 The composite with 300 fiber orientation has shown better tensile modulus.
 The composite with 600 fiber orientation has shown better flexural modulus.
 The results obtained from simulation and experimentation are observed as close match to each other.
 These composites found applications in currencies, bond papers which are good replacement of wood pulp in paper industry, sporting industry, textile industry.
 REFERENCES
• [1] C.Lakshman, T.R.Sydanna, M.NagaKiran, ” Mechanical Performance and Analysis of Banana
Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composites”, International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering
&Technology (IJSRET) //Volume // 6 // Issue // 5 //May // 2017 // ISSN (e): // 2278 - 0882
• [2] Naveen P G, Ravindra Babu G , “Experimental investigation of Mechanical Characteristics
and Vibration Analysis of Banana Fiber Reinforced Composites”, The International Journal of
Research in Engineering and Technology (IJRET) // eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308 //
2016
• [3] Pavan kumar.B , John paul Vas, Shreeranga Bhat, Karthik Madyastha N. “ A Study on the
Vibration Characteristics Of Bagasse-Banana Fibre Hybrid Composite” International Journal of
Composite Materials // 2017 // 7 (5): 150-154 // DOI: 10.5923
• [4] Yugal S. Bagrecha, Raj B. Tailor , M.Ramachandran , P.P.Raichurkar ” An Effect of Banana
Fiber Size on Banana Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composites with Coconut Shell Powder as Filler”
, International Journal of Mechanical and Production Engineering Research and Development
(IJMPRED) // ISSN(P): 2249-6890 // ISSN(E): 2249-8001 // 2018 // 150-155
 REFERENCES
• [5]M.Rajesh, Jeyaraj Pitchaimani, N. Rajini “Free Vibration Characteristics of Banana/Sisal Natural
Fibers Reinforced Hybrid Polymer Composite Beam” Science Direct //12th International Conference
on Vibration Problems(ICOVP 2015) // Procedia Engineering // 144(2016) // 1055-1059 // 1877-7058
• [6] J. Santhosh , N. Balanarasimman , R. Chandrasekar, S.Raja “ Study of Properties of Banana Fiber
Reinforced Composites” International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology (IJRET) //
Volume // 3 // Issue // 11 // 2014 // eISSN:2319-1163 //pISSN: 2321-7