Mechanical Properties of Teak Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composites

The use of composite materials is increasing day by day due to their less weight and high strength. Some of the natural fiber reinforced composites are competing with the artificial fiber reinforced composites. The most significant parameters that affect properties of composites are fiber loading, fiber length, fiber orientation, method of fabrication, etc. In the present research work, an attempt has been made to produce composite materials reinforced with teak fiber in epoxy resin (Araldite LY556). In this investigation, fiber lengths of10mm, 30mm and 50 mm and fiber loading of 2%, 3% and 4% w/w were used. The composite specimens were fabricated by hand layup technique. Experiments were scheduled as per L9 orthogonal array using Taguchi's design of experiments. The effect of fiber loading and fiber length on tensile and flexural strengths has been analyzed.