Fabrication and characterisation of natural fibre reinforced polymer composites

Abstract

Coir fibre is treated with alkali for the improvement of the fibre properties. In order to measure all the effects on the coir fibre composite due to the alkali treatment various characterising tools such as XRD,SEM, FTIR and flexural tests are carried out. As a result of the treatment the improvement on the surface of the fibre is observed due to the reduction of the impurities, lignin content etc which is confirmed by SEM analysis an increase in fibre strength is also obtained which may be due to better fibre-matrix adhesion. A decrease in degree of crystallinity is observed during XRD analysis. However an increased physical and mechanical properties is observed due to the alkali treatment on the coir fibre