Effect of Alkali Treatment on Mechanical, Water Absorption and Chemical Resistance Properties of Cordia-Dichotoma Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composites

摘要

To instigate natural fibers in various diversified applications such as exterior parts of automobile, construction and chemical storage tanks, the natural fibers must possesses the enough impact strength, water absorption and chemical resistance properties. These days Cordia-Dichotoma fibers are gaining considerable attention vowing to their physico-chemical and Pharmaceutical properties; the reinforcement cordia-dichotoma fibers were collected from the bark of the tree and then fibers were extracted using water retting method. Compatibility may not be good in between fiber and matrix due to its hydrophilic and hydrophobic nature respectively. To overcome this, Alkali treatment (5% NaOH) was used to convert the fiber from hydrophilic nature to hydrophobic nature. In this study both untreated and 5% NaOH alkali treated cordia-dichotoma fibers were reinforced with epoxy composite by a technique called hand-lay-up. Effect of various fiber weights on impact strength, water absorption and chemical resistance of both composites that is (Raw and 5% NaOH treated). Based on the impact test results, alkali treated fiber composites enhances its impact strength some percentage than the untreated composite at 20% fiber weight. Water absorption test elucidates that alkali treated fiber composites decreases the water uptake than the untreated composite under different fiber weight ratios. Chemical resistance test revealed that the percentage of chemical absorption (weight gain) was noticed in nearly all the chemicals except a few during the increase in different fiber weight ratios. The aim of this work is to study the effect of Cordia-Dichotoma fiber weight on impact strength, water absorption and chemical resistance behavior of the epoxy composites.