Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Sciences (JMES)

e-ISSN: 2231-8380; Volume 4, pp. 518-531, June 2013

FKM, Universiti Malaysia Pahang

A STUDY OF MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF BANANA-COIR HYBRID

COMPOSITE USING EXPERIMENTAL AND FEM TECHNIQUES
T. Hariprasad1, G. Dharmalingam2 and P. Praveen Raj3
1

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sree Vidyanikethan Engineering College

Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh - 517102
Email: thprasads@gmail.com
2
Department of ME SRM University,Chennai
3
Department of ME, Thanthai Periyar Government Institute of Technology
Bagayam, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India-632002
ABSTRACT

The use of natural fibers as reinforcement in polymers has gained importance in the
recent years due to the eco-friendly nature. In this connection, an investigation has been
carried out to make use of banana-coir, a natural fiber abundantly available in India.
Natural fibers are not only strong and lightweight but also relatively very cheap.
Composite plates were prepared with resin 392gm, coir 54gm, and banana 69gm. The
purpose of this work is to establish the tensile, flexural and impact properties of bananacoir reinforced composite material with a thermo set for treated and untreated fibers.
The resin used was epoxy (EP306). The tensile and impact tests showed that treated
banana-coir epoxy hybrid composite have high tensile strength and impact strength than
untreated composite. At the same time the flexural strength is higher in untreated fiber
composite than treated fiber composite. The FEA software Ansys has been successfully
executed to evaluate the properties. The stresses at the banana-coir matrix interfaces
induced due to the different loading condition were applied to predict the tensile, impact
and flexural properties from the FEA models. The value of model was compared with
the experimental results and was found to be close. This analysis is useful to realize the
advantage of hybrid fiber reinforced composites in structural applications and to
identify the varying loading conditions with the reasons where the stresses are critical to
damage the interface.
Keywords: Banana-fiber, coir-fiber, tensile, flexural, impact, FEA Model.
INTRODUCTION
Usually the fiber reinforcement is done to obtain high strength and high modulus. Hence
it is necessary for the fiber to possess higher modulus than the matrix material. So the
load is transferred to the fiber from the matrix more effectively. Fiber reinforced
composites are popularly being used in many industrial applications because of their
high specific strength & stiffness. Nowadays natural fibers are very fast replacing the
traditional manmade fibers as Reinforcements and have several advantages over
manmade fibers (Wallenberg and Weston, 2004). A number of investigations have been
conducted on several types of natural fibers such as kenaf, hemp, flax, bamboo, and jute
to study the effect of these fibers on the mechanical properties of composite materials
(Umar et al., 2012; Gowda et al., 1999; Ibrahim et al., 2012; Hardinnawirda and
SitiRabiatull Aisha, 2012; Bhaskarand Sharief, 2012). Among this banana and coir is
gaining more importance. The main chemical constituents of banana fibers are hemi
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cellulose and lignin. Hemi cellulose and cellulose are present in the form of
holocellulose in banana fibers, which contributes more than 70 % of the total chemical
constituent present in banana fiber. Another important chemical constituent present in
banana fiber is lignin. Lignin acts as a binder for the cellulose fibers and also behaves as
an energy storage system. Coir is an abundant, versatile, renewable, cheap, and
biodegradable lignocelluloses fiber used for making a wide variety of products .Coir has
also been tested as filler or reinforcement in different composite materials. Coconut coir
is the most interesting products as it has the lowest thermal conductivity and bulk
density (Prasanna and Subbaiah, 2011). Multi component composite materials
comprising of two or more families of fibers have been attracting the attention of
researchers these years. This is because, the usage of one type of fiber alone has proved
to be inadequate in satisfactorily tackling all the technical and economic problems
confronted by them while making fiber reinforced composites. These types of
composites introduce additional degrees of compositional freedom for providing yet
another dimension to the potential versatility of fiber reinforced composite materials.
Therefore the ultimate strength of the system is the stress level at which the elongation
of the system has reached the ultimate elongation of the fiber family. Attempts have
been made by other researchers for the preparation of hybrid composites of natural fiber
and synthetic fiber to improve the mechanical properties of the composites.
An investigation was carried out to make use of coir, Banana fiber (BaF)-filled
composites based on high density polyethylene (HDPE)/Nylon-6 blends. It was studied
for properties (Khanam et al., 2010). The hybrid composites of coir/silk unsaturated
polyester-based hybrid composites were studied for the effect of fiber length on
mechanical behavior of coir fiber reinforced epoxy composites (Liu et al., 2009;
Bachtiar et al., 2010).Variations in tensile and impact properties of banana fiber
reinforced polyester Composites caused by the addition of glass fiber have been
analyzed (Adebisi et al., 2011; Maleque et al., 2007; Jeffrey et al., 2011). Coir yarnreinforced polypropylene (PP)-based unidirectional composites were prepared by
compression molding. Coir yarn content in the composite was optimized and 20% yarn
content showed higher mechanical properties. Jute yarns (20%100%) were
incorporated into the coir-based composites (Pothan et al., 2012).
Banana FRP composites having fiber length of 30 mm and a fiber content of 40
vol% showed the maximum tensile strength. The highest tensile strength values was
obtained for an intimate mixture of banana and glass fibers of composite samples
prepared from interleaving layers of banana fiber and glass fiber (Haydaruzzaman et al.,
2010). A light weight composite material was prepared using banana empty fruit bunch
fiber (banana- EFB) as reinforcement in polyester resin matrix, and its mechanical
properties studied (Srinivasababu et al., 2009). There has been a lot of research work on
different combination of natural fiber. But none has reported on the combination of
banana-coir epoxy composite, which individually has gained lot of attraction. Keeping
this in view the present work has been undertaken to develop a polymer matrix
composite (epoxy resin) using banana-coir fiber as reinforcement and to study its
mechanical properties. The composites were prepared with 30% volume fraction of
fibers. (Kulkarni et al., 1983).

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MATERIALS AND METHODS

Banana Fibers
The pseudo-stem banana woven fabric reinforced epoxy composite was prepared by the
hand lay-up method. The bers were extracted from banana stems by hand and dried in
sunlight for 12 hours until all the moisture was removed from the ber. The Woven
Banana Fabric used for the study is shown in Figure 1.

a) Banana woven fiber

b) Banana fiber immersed in 6%NaoH solution

Figure 1. Banana woven fiber.

Coir Fiber
Coir is a coarse fiber extracted from the fibrous outer shell of a coconut. The individual
fiber cells are narrow and hollow, with thick walls made of cellulose. It has been
traditionally used in tropical regions of Asia, Africa and South America in a variety of
simple item such as rugs, couch and mattress stuffing as well as gardening pots. The
coir fibers used for study are shown in Figure 2.

(a) Coir fiber treated in heater

(b) Hand layup method

Figure 2. Experimental set up.

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A Study of Mechanical Properties of Banana-Coir Hybrid Composite using Experimental and Fem Techniques

Epoxy Resin
Epoxy or polyepoxide is a thermosetting polymer formed from reaction of an epoxide
"resin" with polyamine "hardener". Epoxy has a wide range of applications, including
fiber-reinforced plastic materials and general purpose adhesives. The resin consists of
monomers or short chain polymers with an epoxide group at either end. Most common
epoxy resins are produced from a reaction between epichlorohydrin and bisphenol-A,
though the latter may be replaced by similar chemicals. The hardener consists of
polyamine monomers, for example Triethylenetetramine (TETA). When these
compounds are mixed together, the amine groups react with the epoxide groups to form
a covalent bond. Each NH group can react with an epoxide group, so that the resulting
polymer is heavily cross linked, and is thus rigid and strong. The process of
polymerization is called "curing", and can be controlled through temperature and choice
of resin and hardener compounds; the process can take minutes to hours. Some
formulations benefit from heating during the cure period, whereas others simply require
time, and ambient temperatures. Industrial Specifications and Notifications of Materials
(M/s Roto Polymers., Chennai.) are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Properties of materials.

Diglycidyl Ether
Of bisphenol-A
Di Ethyl Tetra
Amine

Company
code
EP 306

EH 758

Color
Transparent,
sticky liquid
Transparent,
liquid

Specific
gravity
1.14 - 1.19@
25 C

Viscosity

9500
12500cps
@ 25 C
0.95 1.05@ 20 -50 cps
25 C
@ 25C

Epoxy
Value
5 5.5

--

Chemical Treatment
Alkali treatment of natural fibers, also called mercerization, is the common method to
produce high-quality fibers. Mercerization leads to fibrillation which causes the
breakdown of the composite fiber bundle into smaller fibers. Mercerization reduces
fiber diameter, thereby increases the aspect ratio which leads to the development of a
rough surface topography that results in better fiber-matrix interface adhesion and an
increase in mechanical properties. Moreover, mercerization increases the number of
possible reactive sites and allows better fiber wetting. Mercerization has an effect on the
chemical composition of the flax fibers, degree of polymerization. The degree of
polymerization, or DP, is the number of repeat units in an average polymer chain at time
t in a polymerization reaction. The length is in monomer units. The degree of
polymerization is a measure of molecular weight and molecular orientation of the
cellulose crystallites due to cementing substances like lignin and hemicelluloses, which
were removed during the mercerization process. As a result, mercerization had a longlasting effect on the mechanical properties of flax fibers, mainly on fiber strength and
stiffness.

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Properties of HARDENER
In the present work hardener (EH758) has been used. The properties of the hardner are
shown in Table1.
Banana Fiber Treatment
Banana fibers were immersed in 6%NaoH solution for 2 hours at room temperature as
shown in Figure 1(b). After the alkali treatment, the fibers were thoroughly washed by
immersion in water tanks, followed by running water. The material was then filtered
and dried at 80C for 24 hours. The Banana fiber immersed in 6%NaoH solution.
Banana fiber obtained after the final washing are shown in Figure 1(a).
Coconut Fiber Treatment
All fibers were pre-washed with large amount of distilled water and dried at 50C until
constant weight, prior to treatment. The mercerization process consisted of immersing
coir fibers (200 g) in a 10% (w/v) sodium hydroxide aqueous solution (2 L) for 3 hours
at 70C with occasional shaking followed by washing with distilled water several times
to remove any absorbed alkali. Then it was dried at sun light. The Coir fiber was treated
in heater as shown in Figure 2(a).
Fabrication of Composites
There are a wide variety of FRP processes. The choice of process is dependent on many
factors, such as type of reinforcement and matrix materials, size, shape, quantity and
cost. There are many specialized processes available, but only the most commonly used
commercial processes hand layup has been used in the preparation of composite. The
experimental setups are shown in Figure 2(b). A weight press was needed for the Hand
lay-up method. The base plate was cleared of rust by scrubbing with an abrasive paper.
Then the surface was allowed to dry after cleaning it with a thinner solution. After
drying, the surface was coated with silicon gel. The surface was given a few minutes to
get it set for the mold lay-up. The company codes for the epoxy semi polymerized resin
and the Hardener/Curing agent were EP-306 and EH-758 respectively. They were
mixed in the proportion of 10:1 (EP-306 and EP-758). The curing time or the pot life,
which is how it is usually notified in the laboratory charts, was 20 minutes once mixed.
Care was taken so that the resin does not cure in the curing pot itself. A constant watch
over the blend in the pot was made with the aid of a stop watch.
A plate of dimensions 3003008 mm was fabricated by this process. First the
epoxy-banana-coir composite was fabricated. The matrix material was poured into the
mould slowly in order to avoid air trapping. The mixture was left for 2 minutes so that it
becomes a little tacky. After that, the banana fiber ply was laid unidirectional on the
matrix layer, which was covered by another layer of matrix by pouring the mixture
slowly onto the surface of the fiber ply. A small pressure was applied using a roller to
distribute the matrix material and to avoid void formation. Then chopped coir fiber (3050 mm) was laid on the matrix layer. Likewise banana-coir-banana-coir-banana layer
plate was fabricated. The set up was cured under the loaded condition of 25 Kg for
about 24 hours.

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MATERIAL TESTING
Tensile Test
A tensile test, also known as tension test, is probably the most fundamental type of
mechanical test performed on material. Tensile tests are simple, relatively inexpensive,
and fully standardized. As the material is being pulled, we can find its strength along
with how much it will elongate. The point of failure is of much interest and is typically
called its "Ultimate Strength" or UTS on the chart. For some materials (e.g., metals and
plastics), the departure from the linear elastic region cannot be easily identified.
Therefore, an offset method to determine the yield strength of the material tested is
allowed. These methods are discussed in ASTM E8 (metals) and D638 (plastics). An
offset is specified as a % of strain (for metals, usually 0.2% from E8 and sometimes for
plastics a value of 2% is used). The stress (R) that is determined from the intersection
point when the line of the linear elastic region (with slope equal to Modulus of
Elasticity) is drawn from the offset becomes the Yield strength by the offset method.
The tensile curves of some materials do not have a very well-defined linear region. In
these cases, ASTM Standard D638 provides for alternative methods for determining the
modulus of a material, as well as Young's Modulus. These alternate modules are the
secant modulus and tangent modulus. One of the properties that can be determined
about a material is its ultimate tensile strength (UTS). It is the maximum load the
specimen sustains during the test. The UTS may or may not equate to the strength at
break. This all depends on what type of material is being tested. Brittle, ductile, or a
substance that even exhibits both properties. Sometimes a material may be ductile when
tested in a lab, but, when placed in service and exposed to extreme cold temperatures; it
may make a transition to brittle behavior. The tensile test was conducted in UTM Lloyd
LR100K Testing Machine. The 10kN two columns LR 100K incorporates the latest
advanced technology and quality engineering. The material was loaded in the machine.
Then the load is applied at increasing rate until it reaches the maximum tensile load.
When the load reaches the maximum tensile load it breaks.The load at this point is used
to calculate the maximum tensile strength of the composite material. According to the
ASTM D 638 standards five test specimens were made as shown in Figure 3(a).

(a) ASTM D638 standard specimen 1

(treated)

(b) ASTM D790 standard specimen 2

(untreated)

Figure 3. Specimen used.

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Flexural Test
Flexural strength, also known as modulus of rupture, bend strength, or fracture strength,
a mechanical parameter for brittle material, is defined as a material's ability to resist
deformation under load. The transverse bending test is most frequently employed, in
which a rod specimen having either a circular or rectangular cross-section is bent until
fracture using a three point flexural test technique. The flexural strength represents the
highest stress experienced within the material at its moment of rupture. It is measured in
terms of stress. The flexural strength would be the same as the direct tensile strength
(see Ultimate tensile strength) if the material was homogeneous. In fact, most materials
have small or large defects in them which act to concentrate the stresses locally,
effectively causing a localized weakness. When a material is bent only the extreme
fibers are at the largest stress so, if those fibers are free from defects, the flexural
strength will be controlled by the strength of those intact 'fibers'. However, if the same
material was subjected to direct tension then all the 'fibers' in the material are at the
same stress and failure will initiate when the weakest fiber reaches its limiting tensile
stress. Therefore it is common for flexural strengths to be higher than direct tensile
strengths for the same material. Conversely, a homogeneous material with defects only
on it surfaces (e.g. due to scratches) might have a higher direct tensile strength than
flexural strength.
In mechanics, the flexural modulus is the ratio of stress to strain in flexural
deformation, or the tendency for a material to bend. It is determined from the slope of a
stress-strain curve produced by a flexural test (such as the ASTM D 790), and uses units
of force per area. It is an intensive property. Flexural modulus are given by the Eq. (1).

E bend

L3 F
4wh 3 d

(1)

For a 3-point deflection test of a beam, where w and h are the width and height of the
beam, L is the distance between the two outer supports and d is the deflection due to
load F applied at the middle of the beam. According to the ASTM D 790 standards five
test specimens were made as shown in Figure 3(b).
Impact Test
A test designed to give information on how a specimen of a known material will
respond to a suddenly applied stress, e.g. shock. The test ascertains whether the material
is tough or brittle. A notched test piece is normally employed and the two methods in
general use are either the Izod or Charpy test. The result is usually reported as the
energy in ft.lbs. or KJ required to fracture the test piece. Molded-in stresses, polymer
orientation, weak spots (e.g. weld lines or gate areas), and part geometry will affect
impact performance. Impact properties also change when additives, e.g. colouring
agents, are added to plastics. The Charpy impact test, also known as the Charpy v-notch
test, is a standardized high strain-rate test which determines the amount of energy
absorbed by a material during fracture. This absorbed energy is a measure of a given
material's toughness and acts as a tool to study temperature-dependent brittle-ductile
transition. It is widely applied in industry, since it is easy to prepare and conduct and
results can be obtained quickly and cheaply. But a major disadvantage is that all results
are only comparative. The test specimen size was prepared as per the standard IS 867.
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FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

To study the elastic behavior of the plastics and predict some of the resulting important
mechanical properties, a finite-element analysis (FEA) was carried out. Although most
of these properties can be obtained through experimentation, the elastic-plastic
transition behavior in plastics was not easy to study under experimental conditions,
hence a need for theoretical modeling. In addition to validating experimental findings,
the theoretical prediction of these properties can shorten the cycle time for determining
optimum filler quantities that will maximize the resulting composite properties. A finite
element model of the experimentally molded specimens was created using ANSYS 11.0
software. Preliminary results from tensile, flexural, impact tests indicated that the
composite material was very brittle but exhibited linear deformation in its elastic state.
Thus the model was developed using a SOLID 20 node186 element, using an elastic
material, with mechanical characteristics. Because thermosetting plastic was considered
with granular additives, behavior was fairly uncertain. SOLID 20 node186 elements
permit irregular shapes, and its 20 nodes allow for any spatial orientation. Models of
treated and untreated were tested with simulated different loading conditions (Otieno et
al., 2006). The FEA model of the untreated and treated test specimens are shown in
Figures 6- 8.

b) Youngs modulus comparison

a) Tensile Strengths comparison

Figure 4. Comparison of Tensile Strengths and youngs modulus

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Tensile Test Results
The results obtained from the tension test for treated and untreated banana-coir
composite are tabulated as shown in the Table 2. The tensile properties of Treated and
Untreated Banana-coir Epoxy composite were measured and tabulated as Shown in
Table 2. Tensile strength of these composites was compared using the bar chart as
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shown in the Figure 4. It was found that the treated composite has more Tensile strength
than the untreated composite. The tensile strengths of these materials are compared as
shown in Table 2. As such the youngs modules were also compared using the bar chart
as shown in the Figure 4. It was found that Treated composite has more Youngs
modulus than the Untreated composite.
Table 2. Measured properties of banana- coir epoxy composite (treated @Untreated).

Width (mm)
Treated Thickness (mm)
Specimen Max load (N)
Tensile strength (MPa)
Youngs modulus (MPa)
Extension at break (mm)
Width (mm)
Thickness (mm)
Untreated Max load (kgf)
Specimen Tensile strength (MPa)
Youngs modulus (MPa)
Extension at break (mm)
Width (mm)
Thickness (mm)
Max load (kgf)
Flexural strength (MPa)
Flexural modulus (MPa)
Width (mm)
Treated Thickness (mm)
Specimen
Max load (N)
Flexural strength (MPa)
Flexural modulus (MPa)

Trail-1 Trail-2 Trail-3

Average
21.1
19.3
20.1
7.1
7.1
6.8
2760
2520
1710
2330
18.4
18.4
12.5
16.43
1257.9 1450.1 668.5
1125.4
1.68
1.46
2.15
1.76
20.1
18.8
19.0
19.0
8.7
8.7
8.5
8.9
257
265
253
235
14.42
15.89
15.36
13.63
1176.09 1427.61 905.84
938.59
1.41
1.28
1.95
1.67
13.00
13.80
13.70 13.75
8.60
7.12
7.02
7.03
198
177
196
145
30.74
37.94
43.47 31.86 36.00
3120
5486
5192 4954
4688
12.65
12.12
12.80 12.70
8.49
8.45
8.62
8.62
123
109
105
166
20.16
18.95
16.59 26.38 20.52
5148
3625
4609 6179 4890.25

Flexural Test
The results obtained from the flexural test for treated and untreated banana-coir
composite was tabulated as shown in the Table 2. The flexural properties of untreated
Banana-coir Epoxy hybrid composite and treated Banana-coir Epoxy hybrid composite
were measured and tabulated as shown in Table 2 and also the flexural strength of these
composites was compared using the bar chart as shown in the Figure 5(a). It was found
that the Untreated Banana-coir Epoxy composite has more Flexural strength than the
Treated one. The Flexural strengths of these materials were compared. As such the
youngs modules were compared using the bar chart as shown in the Figure 5(b). It was
found that Treated Banana-coir-Epoxy composite has more Youngs modulus than the
Untreated Banana-coir- composite.

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a) Flexural Strength

b) Flexural modulus

c) Impact Strength

Figure 5. Comparison of flexural strength, flexural modulus and impact strength.

Impact Test
The results obtained from the Impact test for treated and untreated banana-coir
composite was tabulated as shown in the Table 3. The Impact strengths of these
materials were compared using the bar chart as shown in the Figure 5(c). It is found that
Treated Banana-coir Epoxy composite has more Impact strengths than the untreated
composite.
Table 3. Measured properties of banana-coir epoxy composite (treated and untreated))
Untreated
Specimen
Trail-1
Trail-2
Trail-3
Trail-4

Width Thickness
(cm)
(cm)
1.31
1.39
1.30
1.31

Impact energy
(dj)

0.66
0.69
0.69
0.66

4
3
4
4

Impact
strength
(kg.cm/cm2)
4.718
3.191
4.548
4.718

Average
(N-m)

0.36

Treated Specimen
Trail-1

1.08

0.85

5.556

Trail-2

1.30

0.85

10

9.231

Trail-3

1.30

0.86

4.561

Trail-4

1.21

0.84

11

8.028

0.76

Simulation Results
The simulated stress distribution for mechanical properties of banana - coir hybrid
treated and untreated at different loading conditions was performed. The maximum
stresses are averages of the values of the center elements used in the FEA. The plots of
the nodal solutions showing simulated stress distributions for banana - coir hybrid
treated and untreated are shown below in Figs 6-8 respectively. As the results indicate,
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tensile strength, impact strength of treated increased, and flexural decreased. Table 4
summarizes the numerical results of the predicted stress data for these specimens.
Comparing simulated with actual results, it appears that the model was fairly accurate.
The results obtained from the experimental testing and simulations have been compared
as shown in the Table 4.

(a)untreated plate

(b)treated plate
Figure 6. Tensile stress distribution.

(a)untreated plate

(b)treated plate

Figure 7. Flexural stress distribution.

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Table 4. Comparison of experimental and simulation results.

S.No Mechanical properties Treated FEA Treated Untreated FEA Untreated
1
Tensile strength(MPa)
16.43
16.80
14.82
14.92
2
Flexural strength(MPa) 20.52
20.27
36
36.52
3
Impact strength (J)
0.76
0.72
0.36
0.44

(a)untreated

(b)treated plate
Figure 8. Impact stress distribution
CONCLUSION

It is concluded that alkali treated banana-coir epoxy hybrid composite has more tensile
and impact strength than untreated banana-coir epoxy hybrid composite. At the same
time alkali treated banana-coir epoxy hybrid composite has less flexural strength than
untreated banana-coir epoxy hybrid composite. The properties were improved by alkali
treating process. In this study fiber weight fraction of 20% has been used. This can be
further increased to find out the optimum filler volume fraction depending on
applications. The simulated stress distribution for mechanical properties of banana - coir
hybrid treated and untreated under different loading conditions was obtained. The
maximum stresses are averages of the values of the center elements used in the FEA.
These results indicate tensile strength and impact strength of treated banana fiber
increased and flexural strength decreased. It was found out the discussed FEA model
results are close to be experimental and hence can be used for predicting properties
required for different applications.

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