charpy impact behavior of water hyacinth fiber based ......and bamboo), grass, reeds, ramie, oil...

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Journal of Material Science & Manufacturing Technology

Volume 2 Issue 2

Charpy Impact Behavior of Water Hyacinth Fiber Based Polymer

Composite

Nafisa Nawal Huda1, Pranta Nath

2, Md. Al Amin

3, Md. Rafiquzzaman

4

Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

Khulna University of Engineering & Technology, Khulna, Bangladesh

Corresponding author’s email id: [email protected]

Abstract

At present, natural fiber reinforced polymer matrix composites have received

wide attention of the researchers from all over the world because of their

outstanding advantages of environment friendliness, biodegradability,

recyclability, cost-effectiveness and comparable physico-mechanical properties.

Among various natural fibers easily available to human beings, Water Hyacinth

(Eichhornea crassipes) is one of the cheapest fibers which have not been

systematically explored so far. Water Hyacinth can be used as filler in composites

materials in various polymer matrices. In this study, an attempt has been made to

fabricate Water Hyacinth fiber based polymer composite and evaluation its

impact behavior. For this composite preparation, Water Hyacinth fibers were

used as reinforcement and the epoxy resin (ADR 246 TX) was used as the matrix.

The fabrication of the composite is done by using hand layup techniques. The

composite thus made was tested for its mechanical properties like hardness test

and charpy impact test. The results showed that Water Hyacinth fibers presented

a competitive reinforcement quality when they were compared with other natural

fibers, as such jute, abaca, and rice straw.

Keywords: Polymer composite, Water Hyacinth, Epoxy resin, Mechanical

performance



Volume 2 Issue 2

INTRODUCTION & LITERATURE

REVIEW

The word „composite‟ means a substance,

which is made up by mixing two or more

distinct different substances. Generally

speaking, any material consisting of two or

more components with different properties

and distinct boundaries between the

components can be referred to as a

composite material. Polymer composites

consist of one or more discontinuous phases

embedded in a continuous-phase polymer

matrix. The discontinuous phase is usually

harder and stronger than the continuous

phase, and is called reinforcement. Due to

increase in pollution and environmental

threats, natural resources are being exploited

substantially as an alternative to synthetic

materials. Due to this, the utilization of

natural fibers for the reinforcement of the

composites has received increasing

attention. Natural fibers have many

remarkable advantages over synthetic fibers.

Nowadays, various types of natural fibers

have been investigated for use in composites

including flax, hemp, jute straw, wood, rice

husk, wheat, barley, oats, rye, cane (sugar

and bamboo), grass, reeds, ramie, oil palm,

sisal, coir, water hyacinth, pennywort,

kapok, paper mulberry, banana fiber,

pineapple leaf fiber and papyrus [1]. One of

the natural fiber sources is water hyacinth

(WH), which contains lignocellulose

materials, such as cellulose, hemicelluloses

and lignin. Any substance that contains both

cellulose and lignin is a lignocellulosic

material. It is abundant in nature and an

alternative source of renewable polymers

that are also highly biodegradable [2].

Water hyacinth growth is directly correlated

with nutrient concentrations, particularly

nitrogen [3]. Increasing concentrations of

nitrogen and phosphorus result in increases

in biomass accumulation, ramet production,

shoot: root ratio and plant height [4-6]. An

eightfold increase in biomass with taller,

lush foliage was reported in water hyacinth

transplanted to a nutrient-rich site compared

with plants from a nutrient-poor site [7]. In

certain areas of its native range, such as the

Paraná River floodplain (Argentina), water

hyacinth growth is nitrogen limited [8-9].

However, extensive growths of water

hyacinth have been recorded throughout its

introduced range in eutrophic water bodies,

such as Hartbeespoort Dam [10] and Bon

Accord Dam [11] in South Africa. Water

hyacinth can store nutrients for later use,

thus high nitrogen and phosphorus content

of plant tissues may be associated with high

nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in

the surrounding water [12]. Of all the



Volume 2 Issue 2

aquatic plants, the water-hyacinth is the

most prolific and spectacular [13-14]. The

most successful application of the water

Hyacinth (Eichhornea crassipes) has been in

the sewage water treatments for nutrient

removal and retention of particles [15-16].

In contrast, Water hyacinth can cause a

variety of problems when its rapid mat-like

proliferation covers large areas of

freshwater. The common water hyacinth is

vigorous growers known to double their

population in two weeks. Natural water

sources such as rivers and canals have

serious water pollution problems due to

widespread growth of the water hyacinth

plant which is a wild plant absorbs more

than 60 % of water [17]. It is also

responsible for clogging drainage, water

intakes, and ditches, shading out other

aquatic vegetation and interfering with

fishing, shipping and recreational activities

[18]. In relation to other fibers, the water

hyacinth has a high percentage of

holocellulose that is an advantage in its

applications as a reinforcing material [19].

Thus synthetic polymers could be reinforced

with various natural fillers, such as water

hyacinth in order to improve the physic

mechanical properties, and obtain the

characteristics demanded in definite

applications [20-21]. Therefore, the purpose

of this research is to find an alternative

application of Water Hyacinth. The present

work focused on the fabrication of Water

Hyacinth fiber, is collected from the stem of

water hyacinth, by using hand layup

technique. Later the mechanical

performances of these composite have been

investigated experimentally.

MATERIALS & METHOD

Materials

In this study, Water Hyacinth fiber was used

as reinforcement and the epoxy resin (ADR

246 TX) was used as the matrix is shown in

figure 1. The hardener and resin were

purchased from a local chemical store. The

Water Hyacinth fiber was extracted from the

raw Water Hyacinth plant which is available

in ponds and river-sides of Bangladesh. A

resin and hardener mixture of 3:1 was used

to obtain optimum matrix composition. See

figure 1.

Extraction of Water Hyacinth Fibers

The Water Hyacinth fiber were extracted

from Water Hyacinth plant by simple

manual method. The total extraction

procedures of Water Hyacinth fiber are

shown in Figure 2 and description of this

procedure are as follows:



Volume 2 Issue 2

i. Water Hyacinth plant was collected

from local ponds and river-sides.

ii. Then leaf and stem of Water

Hyacinth were taken out from the

main plant. A knife was used to

separate the stem part from the

leaves and roots.

iii. Then the extracted main body part of

Water Hyacinth plant were washed

and dried in sunlight.

iv. After drying in sunlight for about 3-4

days, fibers were extracted from the

dried stem of Water Hyacinth plant

by using hand. See Figure 2.

(a)

(b)

Figure 1: (a) Water Hyacinth fiber (b) Epoxy Resin and Hardener

(a) (b) (c) (d)

Figure 2: Fiber extraction procedure (a) Water Hyacinth plant taken from pond (b)Stem of

Water Hyacinth cut from the plant(c) Stems dried in the sunlight (d) Fiber extracted from the

dried stem



Volume 2 Issue 2

Composite Fabrication Procedure

There are many techniques available in

industries for manufacturing of composites

such as compression molding, vacuum

molding and resin transfer molding. The

hand lay-up process of manufacturing is one

of the simplest and easiest methods for

manufacturing composites. In this study, the

composites were manufactured by the hand

lay-up process. During the fabrication

process, the patterns of Water Hyacinth fiber

were impregnated with unsaturated epoxy

resin. The complete sequential fabrication

process is shown in Figure 3.

i. First, the fibers were cut into 20mm

long.

ii. Then, a releasing agent was applied to

the mold surface.

iii. The mold was created with woods and

the dimension of the mold was 120 ×

120 × 5 mm3.

iv. Then the resin was mixed with the

hardener at 3:1 proportion and the fibers

were mixed appropriately with the

mixer.

v. After mixing, the mixer is then poured

into the mold.

vi. Finally this mold is taken to the simple

press to force the air gap to remove any

excess air present in between the fibers

and resin, and then kept for several (72

hours) hours to get the perfect samples.

vii. After the composite material get

hardened completely, the composite

material is taken out from the mold and

rough edges are neatly cut and removed

as per the required dimensions.

The composite laminate samples were

cured by exposure to normal

atmospheric conditions. The fabricated

composites were cut using a grinding

machine to obtain the specimen for

mechanical testing as per the ASTM

D3039 standards for Charpy impact test

and Rockwell hardness test.



Volume 2 Issue 2

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

(g)

(h)

Figure 3: Complete sequential process for fabricating (a) Fibers (b) Forming the mold (c)

Mixing resin and fiber in appropriate proportion (d) Pouring of mixer into the mold (e)

pressed to force the air gap to remove any excess air present and kept for 72 hours (f) After

taken out from mold (g) specimen for Rockwell hardness test (h) Specimen for Charpy impact

test

Experimental Procedure

The Impact testing of the specimen was

carried out on Tinius Olsen machine as per

procedure mentioned in ASTM D256.

Composite specimens were placed in

vertical position (Izod Test) and hammer

was released to make impact on specimen

and CRT reader gives the reading of impact

strength. The Rockwell hardness test was

performed using a hardness testing machine.

Rockwell hardness test is to apply diamond

cone indenter or steel ball indenter to the

specimen surface in two steps as, which

shall be retained for a certain period of time,

and measure the residual indentation depth

under preliminary test force after the main



Volume 2 Issue 2

test force is removed. All experimental tests

were repeated four times to generate the

data. Hardness and impact testing machine

are shown in Figure 4.

(a)

(b)

Figure 4: (a) Impact Machine (b) Hardness Tester

Figure 5: Impact strength of Water Hyacinth composites.



Volume 2 Issue 2

RESULTS & DISCUSSIONS

Impact Strength

For analyzing the impact capability of the

different specimens an impact test is carried

out by Charpy impact test. The energy loss

is found out on the reading obtained from

the Charpy impact machine. Experimental

results of impact testing of water hyacinth

composite are shown in Figure 5. The

average impact strength is found to be

118.35 kJ/m2.

The comparison of impact strength of

different natural fiber based polymer

composites are shown in Table 1. The

results show that the impact strength of

water hyacinth fiber composite is lower

compare with other composites. However

material design engineer can use these data

to design their material in particular

application. However, this natural fiber

reinforced composite can be used in places

where light load application is important and

the economics of natural fiber composite

materials is more beneficial as compared to

E-glass fiber composites.

Table 1: Comparison of Impact Strength of Different natural Fiber Based Polymer Composites

Materials Fiber weight % Impact

strength(KJ/m2)

Hardness HRC

Water Hyacinth Fiber Based

Polymer Composites

40% [Present Study]

118.36 77

Rice-straw Fiber Based Polymer

Composites

Rice straw (40%)[24]

178.34 65

Glass-Jute Fiber Reinforced

Polymer Composites

Jute(20%),

Glass(10%)[22]

169.75 98

Glass-Bamboo Fiber Based Composites

Bamboo(30%), Glass(70%)

[23]

200 95

Pineapple-Glass Fiber Based Polymer Composites

Glass (20%), Pineapple (20%)

[25]

172.54 89



Volume 2 Issue 2

Figure 6: Hardness of Water Hyacinth composites

Hardness

Hardness of a composite material is

measured by Rockwell hardness number

which is a number derived from the net

increase in the depth of impression as the

load on an indenter is increased from a fixed

minor load to a major load and then returned

to the minor load. Experimental results of

hardness test of Water Hyacinth fiber based

polymer composite are shown in Figure 6.

This experiment were done four times with

different specimens of same weight volume

ratio. From the results it can be seen that the

average hardness no. of Water Hyacinth

based polymer composite is 77. The

comparison of Rockwell hardness number of

different natural fiber based polymer

composites are shown in Table 1. The

results show that the hardness number of

water hyacinth fiber composite is lower

compare with other composites except rice

straw fiber composite. When added the glass

fiber with natural fiber the hardness in

increased due to the high stiffness of glass

fiber. However material design engineer

can use these data to design their material in

particular application. However, this natural

fiber reinforced composite can be used in

places where light load application is

important and the economics of natural fiber

composite materials is more beneficial as

compared to E-glass fiber composites.



Volume 2 Issue 2

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, the Charpy impact behavior of

WH fiber based composites is discussed.

From this research it is seen that the impact

strength of WH fiber based polymer

composites are competitive enough

compared with the other natural fiber based

polymer composites. The impact strength of

WH fiber based polymer composites can be

good for some low load bearing operations.

Designers can use this research for making

products of WH fiber based polymer

composites based on specific strength that

this composite will provide.

Moreover, the most valuable aspect of this

research is that, WH which is considered a

waste and environmental pollutant can be

used to make products which may replace

high cost glass fiber based composites as

well as help grow a healthier aquatic

environment for the fishes and other aquatic

plants.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors are very much grateful to

Khulna University of Engineering and

Technology (KUET), Bangladesh, for

providing their lab facility for successfully

completing this research.

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Composites Science and

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[22] Md Rafiquzzaman, Md. Maksudul

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2017, pp. 83-88

charpy impact behavior of water hyacinth fiber based ......and bamboo), grass, reeds, ramie, oil...

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