EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF MECHANICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND VIBRATION ANALYSIS OF BANANA FIBER REINFORCED COMPOSITES

Naveen P G, Ravindra Babu G

Abstract: In the current scenario, the concern of global warming and the environmental pollution has led the scientists to search for alternative materials that can be used in various engineering applications. For this purpose, natural fibers can be used due to their low density, low cost and bio-degradability. In the present work, banana fiber is utilized as a reinforcing material and epoxy as matrix material to prepare the composite samples. The composite samples of different fiber/epoxy ratios are prepared by hand lay-up technique. Various mechanical tests such as tensile, flexural and compression tests are performed on the fabricated composite samples. Vibration characteristics such as natural frequency, damping factor and logarithmic decrement are found by FFT Test. The obtained value of natural frequency is compared with the analytical value as determined using NX Nastran. Thus depending on the obtained values, best suited fiber/epoxy ratio is chosen

Keywords: Composites, Banana Fiber, Mechanical Characteristics, Vibration Analysis etc…

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2016.0509008