Mechanical, dielectric and thermal properties of Grewia optiva fibers reinforced unsaturated polyester matrix based composites

Present research work deals with the preparation and characterization of raw and surface modified Grewia optiva particle fibers reinforced unsaturated polyester (UPE) matrix based bio-composites. Raw and surface modified fibers have been used in different proportions for the preparation of these composites. The optimization of fiber proportions has been done in term of their mechanical properties i.e. tensile, compressive and flexural strength. After the optimization of fiber proportions, these optimized composite samples were characterized by TGA, DSC and SEM techniques. In addition, they were also evaluated for their dielectric properties. It has been found that the dielectric properties of the surface modified fibers reinforced composites increased considerably. (c) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.