Authors : A. Karthikeyan and K. Balamurugan
Abstract: This study is aimed at to investigate the effect of surface modification through NaOH (Sodium hydroxide) treatment and fiber length on the tensile strength of coir fiber of reinforced epoxy composites. The coir fibers was treated with 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10% concentration of NaOH separately for 10 days.The tensile strength of untreated and alkali treated fiber was measured. For each group of the coir fiber experiments were conducted on different fiber lengths, namely; 10, 20 and 30 mm. The experimental results showed that increasing NaOH concentration leads to a decrease in fiber diameter in a linear fashion. This reduction in diameter naturally ends up with reduced tensile strengths. The treated coir fiber was used as a reinforcement and epoxy as a matrix to fabricate the composites. The tensile strength of different samples of composites was measured. Increased NaOH concentration in fibers treatment was found to increase the tensile strength up to 4% and further increase in NaOH concentration reduces the tensile strength and also increased fiber length was found to increase in tensile strength. Maximum tensile strength of the composite was found to be uniformly accruing for 4% NaOH treated samples. Based on the nonlinear regression analysis the tensile strength equation was proposed for coir fiber reinforced epoxy composites.
A. Karthikeyan and K. Balamurugan, 2013. The Effect of Sodium Hydroxide Treatment and Fiber Length on the Tensile Property of Coir Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composites. Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 8: 156-161.