INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, NIRMA UNIVERSITY, AHMEDABAD 382 481, 09-11 DECEMBER, 2010

Dynamic Mechanical Behavior of Woven Gogu Fiber Composites

K. Raja Narender Reddy 2K. Kishor Kumar 3D.K. Nageswara Rao 1 Assoc. Professor 2 Lecturer 3 Principal 1,2 Dept. of. Mech. Engg., Kakatiya Institute of Technology & Science, Warangal-506 015, India 3 .BVC Institute of Technology & Science, Amalapuram-533221
Abstract-- Gogu fiber composites are made of unidirectional mats of treated and untreated fibers. Chemical treatment is done in 2% NaOH solution at room temperature. The composites are prepared by hand molding using isopthalic polyester resin. Dynamic mechanical analysis is carried out as per ASTM standards. The Storage Modulus, Loss Modulus and damping factor of unidirectional composite lamina are evaluated. Effect of Fiber surface Treatment on dynamic Mechanical properties and on glass transition temperature is also observed. Index termsNatural fiber composites, Dynamic mechanical analysis.
1

mechanical properties of Banana fiber reinforced polyester composites. The intrinsic properties of the components, morphology of the system and the nature of interface between the phases are used to determine the dynamic mechanical properties of the composites. To increase the adhesion between the hydrophilic fibers and hydrophobic matrix, Maya [5] has suggested the alkali treatment as one of the most common and efficient methods of chemical modification. II. PLANT DETAILS Kenaf plant [1] is shown in Fig.1a belongs to the Malvaceae family. Kenaf fiber is suitable for manufacture of paper pulp. Fibre is widely used for rope and cordage. It is also used for coarse canvas, sacks and gunny bags, floor matting, rug backing, chair backing, etc. Fiber of poor quality and cuttings are employed in paper manufacture. The stalks left after fiber extraction are used as fuel. Dried stalks are useful for match splinters. Kenaf seed oil is used as a lubricant and for lighting. It is suitable for soaps, especially hard soap, and for the manufacture of linoleum, paints and varnishes. Refined oil is edible. The leaves, tops and tender branches are used as fodder. The juice of the flowers mixed with sugar and black pepper is a remedy for biliousness. Kenaf fibers are produced from the fibrous outer layer of the plant. They are stiff due the lignin content. Soft and useful fibers are obtained by bacterial retting process. Retting is a process by which bundles of cells in the outer layers of stalk are separated from non-fibrous matter by removal of pectins and other gummy substances. The period of retting varies from 6 to 10 days depending upon the maturity of the crop at the time of harvesting, the temperature of water and the types of microorganisms present. Retted bundles are removed and the bark is peeled off from the root upwards. The strips are gently beaten with a mallet or stick and rinsed in water to separate the fibre from adhering tissue. The clean fibre is washed and dried in the sun and made into bundles. The fiber strands are 2-3m long. Studies on kenaf fiber composites with polypropylene matrix are only found in the literature and no work has been reported on woven kenaf fiber polyester composites. III. FIBER MODIFICATIONS For chemical treatment, the dried fibers are soaked in 2% NaOH solution for 24 hrs at room temperature. This treatment helps in dissolving lignin and hemicelluloses and to expose more of the fiber OH groups. The fibers are washed

I. INTRODUCTION

anufacturing high performance engineering materials from renewable resources is one ambitious goal currently being pursued by researchers across the world. The ecological benefits of renewable raw materials are clear: they save valuable resources are environmentally sound and do not cause health problems. Natural fibers have already established a track record as simple filler material in automobile parts. Natural fibers like sisal, jute, coir, oil palm fiber have all been proved to be good reinforcement in thermoset and thermoplastic matrices. Dynamic Mechanical test methods have been widely employed for investigating the structures and viscoelastic behavior of polymeric materials for determining their relevant stiffness and damping characteristics for various applications. The dynamic properties of polymeric materials are of considerable practical significance when determined over a range of temperature and frequencies. At lower temperatures, the storage modulus values are maximum for the neat polyester where as at temperatures above Tg, the storage modulus values are found to be maximum for composites with higher fiber loading, indicating that the incorporation of banana fiber in polyester matrix induces reinforcing effects appreciably at higher temperatures[1] NaOH treatment modifies the crystalline structure of the cellulose into a more thermodynamically stable structure resulting in improved surface tension, wetting ability, adhesion and compatibility with polymeric materials [2]. Mehdi Tajdive, Robert H falk, john c Hermanson[3] studied the thermal and mechanical properties of natural fiber poly propylene composites using dynamic mechanical analysis. Composites of polypropylene and various natural fibers including kenaf fibers, wood flour, rice hulls and news print fibers are used and storage modulus and mechanical loss factor were determined. Laly.A pothan, Zachariahoommen, sabu Thomas [4] studied the thermal and

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thoroughly with double distilled water to remove NaOH. These treated fibers are dried at room temperature for 24 hours and are shown in Fig. 3.

Fig4. G-UT-UD Mat Fig1. Gogu plant & Flower

Fig5. G-T-UD mat

IV. EXPERIMENTAL
Fig2. Gogu UnTreated fiber

A. Composites Unidirectional mats shown in Fig. 4 are prepared on an indigenous weaving set up using the treated and untreated fibers. General purpose isopthalic polyester resin procured from M/s Sakthi Fiber Glass, Chennai, India, is used for preparing the composites. 2% MEKP and 2% cobalt napthalate are used as additives. Wax polish and ploy vinyl alcohol (PVA) are used as releasing agents. The composites are fabricated in an open mold process between two thick glass plates. To create a thin separating layer, wax polish is applied on the glass plates with a subsequent coat of PVA. The lamina is prepared with a matrix fiber ratio of 6. Treated and untreated fibers of Hibiscus Cannabinus are used to make unidirectional mats. two different composites: untreatedunidirectional, treated unidirectional are made. General purpose isopthalic polyester resin supplied by Sakthi Fiber Glass, Chennai, India, was used in the present work. The laminas are fabricated by Hand layup technique. B. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) Composites exhibit changes in material properties such as volume, enthalpy, heat capacity, thermal expansion and tensile modulus as the material is heated through the glass transition temperature, Tg and goes from glass to rubbery

Fig3. Gogu Treated fiber

INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, NIRMA UNIVERSITY, AHMEDABAD 382 481, 09-11 DECEMBER, 2010

state. The DSC is performed with the help of Mettler using Star SW 8.1 analyzer to measure Tg. C. Dynamic Mechanical Analysis DMA was performed using a PerkinElmer MAS- 800 DMA analyzer. A 3-point bending mode was selected and the composites were tested over a temperature range of 30c to 190c at a frequency of 1Hz and at a heating rate of 10c/min. The storage modulus (E ) is a measure of the elastic character or solid like nature of the material and the loss modulus (E ) is a measure of the viscous character or liquid like nature of the material. The larger E relative to E , the more energy required deforming the sample and it is elastically recoverable. The larger E relative to E , the more of the deformation energy is viscously dissipated as heat. For an ideal elastic solid, the phase lag is zero. Thus, E is simply Youngs modulus of the material and E is zero. For an ideal viscous liquid the phase lag is 90 . Thus, the storage modulus is zero and the loss modulus is related to the viscosity of the material. In a physical sense, the storage modulus is related to the stiffness of the material and the loss modulus is reflected in the damping capacity of the material. In addition, a third quantity may be defined by taking the ratio of the loss modulus to the storage modulus. This quantity is known as the material loss factor or loss tangent, or, more commonly, tan .Tan ranges from zero for an ideal elastic solid to infinity for an ideal liquid. It represents the ratio of energy dissipated to energy stored per cycle of deformation. V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

glass/ rubber transition. A slightly lower Tg is observed for the G-UT-UD. Tg determined from the storage modulus spectrum generally differs from what is determined from loss modulus spectrum, because they actually show two different stages in transition , in storage modulus spectrum the onset of the transition is observed , while in later the peak point is considered . A slightly lower Tg is observed in Fig.7 for the G-UTUD over G-T-UD. Two major transitions are easily seen from loss modulus spectrum. The loss modulus in each composite reaches a maximum as storage modulus decreases; this behavior is produced by the free movement in the polymeric chains at high temperature. G-UT-UD has the maximum loss modulus.

Fig7. Variation of Loss modulus

Fig6. Variation of storage modulus

Storage modulus spectrum of Gogu fiber composites are presented in fig-6 while a considerable improvement in the Storage modulus value is seen when fibers are treated. A clear transition is seen at temperature around 76c TO 100c. This is glass transition which is major transition in the composites. Below Tg the Storage modulus values drop as the temperature increases. G-UT-UD and G-T-UD behaved in a very similar manner and they almost overlaid over the entire range of temperature. Below Tg the Storage modulus values drop as the temperature increases. In the vicinity of glass transition temperature, a very considerable drop is observed, which indicates that the material is going through a

Fig8. variation of loss factor (tan )

Damping can be determined by the ratio between loss modulus and storage modulus, also known as Tan. This ratio depends on fiber and matrix adhesion level. The tan peak temperature of G-T-UD in Fig.8 is slightly higher than G-UTUD. This shows that treated fibers create composites that are resistant to structural changes..The storage and Loss Modulus of the developed composite lamina are shown in table.1.

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TABLE 1 DYNAMIC BEHAVIOR OF GOGU FIBER COMPOSITE.

S. No 1 2

Type of Lamina G-UT-UD G-T-UD

E'-Storage Modulus [GPa] 7.850 8.011

E"-Loss Modulus [GPa] 0.8424 0.7556

Damping

0.1073 0.0943

DSC Analysis: The thermal behavior of Gogu fiber reinforced composite in nitrogen atmosphere of 30ml/min with a heating rate of 100C during temperature range of 25-1500C are shown in Table 2. Increase in Tg represents reduction of mobility of the polymer backbone due to formation of chemical bond between the resin and the matrix.
TABLE 2 THERMAL BEHAVIOR OF GOGU FIBER COMPOSITE S. No

Type of Lamina

Glass Transition Temperature c From From From TanD Storage Loss modulus modulus

From DSC

1 2

UT-UD T-UD

77.19 81.93

66.40 61.45

67.24 71.88

72.76 71.69

VI. CONCLUSION Gogu fiber composites are made of unidirectional mats of treated and untreated fibers. The composites are prepared by hand layup technique using isopthalic polyester resin. Dynamic mechanical analysis test is conducted as per ASTM standards. The storage modulus, loss modulus, damping of each composite lamina were evaluated. Treated Unidirectional lamina is more elastic in nature and untreated unidirectional lamina is more viscous. Viscoelasticity of different laminas are observed and also glass transition temperatures are evaluated. Higher Tg of treated fiber composite indicates higher thermal stability compared to untreated fiber composite. VII. REFERENCES
[1] Maya, J.J. and Rajesh, D.A. (2008). Recent developments in chemical modifications and characterization of natural fiber composites, Polym Compos., 29: 187-207. [2] Laly A Pathan, Zachariahoommen, sabu Thomas Dynamic mechanical analysis of banana fiber reinforced polyester composites, Composites Science and Technology 63 (2003)283293 , Kottayam, Kerala, India [3] Mehdi Tajdive, Robert H falk, john c Hermanson, Effect of Natural Fibers on Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Natural Fiber Polypropylene Composites Studied by Dynamic Mechanical Analysis. Received 15 October 2005; [4] Laly A Pathan, Zachariahoommen, sabu Thomas Dynamic mechanical analysis of banana fiber reinforced polyester composites, Composites Science and Technology 63 (2003) 283293 , Kottayam, Kerala, India [5] Maya, J.J., Bejoy, F., Varughese, K.T. and Thomas, S. (2008). Effect of chemical modification on properties of hybrid biocomposites, Composites: Part A, 39: 352-362.