Assessing Mechanical Properties of Natural Fibre Reinforced Composites for Engineering Applications英文文献资料.docVIP

Journal of Minerals and Materials Characterization and Engineering, 2012, 11, 780-784 Published Online August 2012 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/jmmce) Assessing Mechanical Properties of Natural Fibre Reinforced Composites for Engineering Applications Olusegun David Samuel , Stephen Agbo , Timothy Adesoye Adekanye 1* 2 3 1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria Department of Mechanical Engineering, Lagos City Polytechnic, Ikeja, Nigeria Department of Agricultural Engineering, Landmark University, Omuaran, Nigeria samolud@, steveagbo1@ 2 3 Email: * Received March 4, 2012; revised April 20, 2012; accepted May 15, 2012 ABSTRACT Mechanical properties of ukam, banana, sisal, coconut, hemp and E-glass fibre reinforced laminates were evaluated to assess the possibility of using it as new material in engineering applications. Samples were fabricated by the hand lay-up process (30:70 fibre and matrix ratio by weight) and the properties evaluated using the INSTRON material test- ing system. The mechanical properties were tested and showed that glass laminate has the maximum tensile strength of 63 MPa, bending strength of 0.5 MPa, compressive strength of 37.75 MPa and the impact strength of 17.82 J/m . The 2 ukam plant fibre laminate has the maximum tensile strength of 16.25 MPa and the impact strength of 9.8J/m among the natural fibres; the sisal laminate has the maximum compressive strength of 42 MPa and maximum bending strength of 0.0036 MPa among the natural fibres. Results indicated that natural fibres are of interest for low-cost engineering ap- plications and can compete with artificial glass fibres (E-glass fibre) when a high stiffness per unit weight is desirable. Results also indicated that future research towards significant improvements in tensile and impa