Effect of environment on mechanical properties of bagasse fiber reinforced polymer composite

In recent years the natural fiber composites have attracted substantial importance as a potential structural material. The attractive features of natural fibers like jute, sisal, coir and banana have been their low cost, light weights, high specific modulus, renewability and biodegradability. Natural fibres are lignocellulosic in nature. These composites are gaining importance due to their non- carcinogenic and bio-degradable nature. The natural fiber composites can be very cost effective material especially for building and construction industry. However in many instances residues from traditional crops such as rice husk or sugarcane bagasse or from the usual processing operations of timber industries do not meet the requisites of being long fibers. Bagasse contains about 40% cellulose, 30% hemicellulose, and 15% lignin. The present use of bagasse is mainly as a fuel in the sugar cane mill furnaces. It is felt that the value of this agricultural residue can be upgraded by bonding with resin to produce composites suitable for building materials. Keeping this in view the present work has been undertaken to develop a polymer matrix composite (epoxy resin) using bagasse fiber as reinforcement and to study its mechanical properties and environmental performance. The composites are prepared with different volume fraction of bagasse fibers. Experiments have been conducted under laboratory conditions to asses the effect of different environment such as subzero, steam, saline water and natural conditions on the mechanical properties of the composites. The change in weight, volume and dimensions are studied for various treatments. Shear strength of the composites was evaluated by three point bend test as per ASTM D2344-84. The volume fraction of composites having greater mechanical properties was taken for the second phase of experimentation. The second phase of experiment involves treatment of bagasse fiber with acetone and study of their environmental performance. The fibers were washed in soxhlet extractor. Micro structural examinations were also made to get an idea about the effect of treated and untreated fibers on the mechanical properties of the composites