Characterization of Banana and Bagasse fiber reinforced hybrid epoxy composites

In this work banana and bagasse fibers have been taken as reinforcement material because of its ease of availability and low cost. Initially density of the fibers are found using water displacement method, The fibers were treated by NaOH and NaCl solution of 5% concentration for good adhesion property. These are reinforced with the epoxy with Hardener - HY 951. The 20% and 30% of volume fraction of banana and Bagasse fibers of equal proportions are taken for fabrication using hand layup method for the dimension 300*300 mm(2).change in the volume fraction of FRC's changes the value of young's modulus by making material stiffer. The testing was carried out by the computer integrated universal testing machine (UTM) which has the capacity of 100KN Kalpak software is used for the data acquisition the testing. Specimen is cut into as per ASTM D-3039 and ASTM D-790 standards for Brinell hardness test and Fast Fourier transform technique test respectively. Brinell hardness test technique tests are conducted on 20% and 30% of volume fraction of fibers (Banana and Bagasse). Results of Brinell hardness test is obtained experimentally results reveal that fibers of 30% volume fraction makes material stiffer and intern increases the elasticity and UTS. Fast Fourier transform technique test is conducted for modal analysis by analyzing modal shapes by 1.Bending, 2. Twisting, 3. Combination of Bending and twisting 4. Combination of all.