NATURAL FIBER REGGRESSORS EFFECTS ON PHYSICAL AND STRENGTH PROPERTIES RESPONSES OF BIDIRECTIONAL FINGER ROOT FIBER REINFORCED EPOXY COMPOSITES

Abstract

Last few years, the interest in using natural fibers as reinforcement in polymers has increased dramatically. Natural fibers are not only strong and lightweight but also relatively very cheap. In this research work, an investigation has been carried out to make use of finger root fiber, a natural fiber abundantly available in Nigeria. The present work describes the development and characterization of a new set of natural fiber based polymer composites consisting of bidirectional finger root fiber as reinforcement and epoxy resin as matrix material. The composites were fabricated using hand lay-up and compression moulding techniques and were characterized with respect to their physical and strength properties. Experiments are carried out to study the effects of fiber reggressors on the physical and strength properties responses of bi-directional finger root fiber reinforced epoxy composites. Results show the significant effects of fiber reggressors on the physical and strength properties responses of finger root epoxy composites. Also, the formations of voids in the composites at different fiber reggressors were an influencing factor on the composites strength properties as responses.

KEYWORDS: Natural fiber; Finger root fiber; Epoxy; Physical Properties; Strength Properties