Materials and Design 31 (2010) 508513

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Materials and Design

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Technical Report

Fabrication and testing of natural bre composites: Vakka, sisal, bamboo and banana
K. Murali Mohan Rao, K. Mohana Rao, A.V. Ratna Prasad *
Department of Mechanical Engineering, V R Siddhartha Engineering College, Vijayawada 520 007, AP, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A study has been carried out to investigate the tensile, exural and dielectric properties of composites
Received 1 March 2009 made by reinforcing vakka as a new natural bre into a polyester resin matrix. The bres extracted by
Accepted 16 June 2009 retting and manual processes have been used to fabricate the composites. These composites are tested
Available online 21 June 2009
for tensile, exural and dielectric properties and compared with those of established composites like
sisal, bamboo and banana made under the same laboratory conditions. The composites are fabricated
up to a maximum volume fraction of bre of 0.37 in the case of tensile testing, and 0.39 for exural
and dielectric testing. It has been observed that the tensile properties increase with respect to volume
fraction of bre for vakka bre composite and are also more than those of sisal and banana composites
and comparable to those of bamboo composites. The exural strength of vakka bre composite is more
than that of banana composite and is closer to sisal bre composite with respect to the volume fraction of
bre, where as the exural modulus is much higher than those of banana and sisal bre composites and
also very much closer to bamboo bre composites. The dielectric strength of vakka bre composite
increases with increase in volume fraction of bre in the composite unlike the case of sisal, bamboo
and banana composites. The dielectric strength being a unique feature of vakka bre composite, can
be suggested for electrical insulation applications.
2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction The mechanical behavior of high impact polystyrene (HIPS) rein-

Over the past two decades, plant bres have been receiving con-
siderable attention as substitutes for synthetic bre reinforce-
ments. Unlike the traditional synthetic bres like glass and
carbon these lignocellulosic bres are able to impart certain bene-
ts to the composites such as low density, high stiffness, low cost,
renewability, biodegradability and high degree of exibility during
processing.
Cellulosic bres like sisal, coconut (coir) and bamboo in their
natural form as well as several waste cellulosic products such as
shell our, wood our and pulp have been used as reinforcing
agents of different thermosetting and thermoplastic composites
[14]. Several authors have reported the chemical composition,
properties of sisal bres and their composites by incorporating
the bre in different matrices before and after treatment by differ-
ent methods [5]. It is observed that the mechanical process yields
good quality of bre compared to retting process, even though the
yield is more in the later case. The mechanical properties of sisal,
banana and hemp bre composites using novolac resin, with and
without maleic anhydride treatment were reported [6]. It was ob-
served that the properties like Youngs modulus, exural modulus
and impact strength increases with maleic anhydride treatment.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 866 2582333; fax: +91 866 2582672.
E-mail address: rp_atluri@yahoo.co.in (A.V. Ratna Prasad).
forced with short sisal bres was investigated [7]. Higher values
of quasi-static fracture toughness were exhibited by the compos-
ites in comparison to the plain matrix up to a bre content of about
10 wt% of sisal.
A composite laminate based on natural ax bre and recycled
high density polyethylene was manufactured by a hand lay-up
and compression moulding technique [8]. The tensile and impact
properties of the composite were assessed and observed that
improvements in strength and stiffness combined with high tough-
ness can be achieved by varying the bre volume fraction and con-
trolling the bonding between layers of the composite. Composites
of an aliphatic polyester (Bionolle) with natural ax bres are pre-
pared by batch mixing and the effect of processing conditions on
bre length distribution and the dependence of the composite
mechanical properties on bre content were investigated [9].
A 30% increase in strength is observed when natural bres
(25 vol%) are substituted by bres containing acetate groups.
The properties such as tensile strength, modulus, tear strength
and elongation at the break of bamboo-bre-reinforced natural
rubber composites, with and without the presence of a bonding
agent, was studied [10]. The presence of bonding agent gave short-
er curing time and enhanced mechanical properties. Some studies
were carried out on the exural behavior of bamboo-bre-
reinforced mortar laminates [11]. The exural strength value was
improved to greater than 90 MPa for the laminates with reformed
bamboo plate on the bottom as a tensile layer and bre-reinforced

0261-3069/$ - see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.matdes.2009.06.023
 K. Murali Mohan Rao et al. / Materials and Design 31 (2010) 508513
mortar sheet on the top as a compressive layer. The resistance of
bamboo-bre-reinforced polypropylene composite (BFRP) and
bambooglass bre reinforced polypropylene hybrid composite
(BGRP) to hygrothermal ageing and their fatigue under cyclic ten-
sile load were studied [12]. It was concluded that BGRP shows a
better resistance to environmental ageing than BFRP and an unre-
inforced polypropylene has a longer fatigue life than BFRP and
BGRP composites at the specied cyclic load levels. Recently, stud-
ies on PP based composites using steam exploded bamboo bres
have increased the tensile strength and modulus to about 15%
and 30%, respectively [13].
The effect of moisture absorption and some mechanical proper-
ties of jute bres on dewaxing, delignication, bleaching and treat-
ment with jute batch oil-in-emulsion were investigated [14]. The
mechanical and thermal properties of composites on alkali treat-
ment of jute bres were also studied [15,16]. The properties were
improved by using NaOH treatment. The inuence of surface mod-
ications of coir bres involving alkali treatment, bleaching and vi-
nyl grafting on the performance of coirpolyester composites was
investigated [17]. The mechanical properties of composites like
tensile, exural and impact strengths increased as a result of sur-
face modications. The effect of natural waxy surface layer of the
coir bre on bre/matrix interfacial bonding and composite prop-
erties has been studied by single bre pullout test and evaluated
the tensile properties of oriented discontinuous bre composites
[18]. The waxy layer provided good brematrix bond such that
removal of the layer resulted in drastic decrease of the bre pullout
stress, increase of the critical bre length and corresponding de-
crease in tensile strength and modulus of the composites.
Composites of polypropylene lled with 30% wheat straw bres
extracted by both mechanical and chemical processes were pre-
pared and their mechanical properties were also evaluated [19].
These composites exhibited signicantly enhanced properties
compared to virgin polypropylene. HDPE-henequen bre compos-
ites were prepared with a 20% volume of bre content and the ten-
sile, exural and shear properties were studied [20]. The
comparison of the properties of the composites showed that the si-
lane treatment and the matrixresin pre-impregnation process of
the bre produced a signicant increase in tensile strength but
only the silane treatment of the bre produced a signicant in-
crease in exural strength and shear properties where as the ten-
sile and exural modulii remained relatively unaffected.
Commercial decking boards made from about 50% rice hull and
about 50% high density polyethylene were investigated under sim-
ulated extreme climatic exposure conditions [21]. The samples ab-
sorbed 4.5% moisture after 2000 h exposure to 93% relative
humidity (RH) and 40 C. The effects of concentration and modi-
cation of bre surface in sisal/oil palm hybrid bre reinforced rub-
ber composites have been studied [22]. Increasing the
concentration of bres resulted in reduction of tensile strength
and tear strength, but increased modulus of the composites.
Mechanical properties of environmentally friendly composite
made of kenaf bre and poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) resin was investi-
gated [23]. Youngs modulus (6.3 GPa) and the tensile strength
(62 MPa) of the kenaf/PLLA composite (bre content = 70 vol%)
were comparable to those of traditional composites. Composites
made from the polyester by incorporating the elephant grass bres
extracted by different processes with and without treatment are
investigated for tensile properties. The tensile strength and the
modulus of chemically extracted elephant grass bre composites
have increased by approximately 1.45 times to those of elephant
grass bre composites extracted by retting [24].
Even though, a very large quantity of work has been published
on various natural bres and its composites, an effort has been
made in the present work to introduce a new natural bre i.e. vak-
ka as reinforcement in the development of new composite materi-
509
als for lightweight structures. Some studies were already reported
on the exploration, extraction and tensile properties of vakka bre
and compared with established bres like sisal, bamboo, banana
and coir in literature [25]. The vakka, locally called as royal palm
(scientic name: Roystonea regia) is abundantly available and
renewable in nature. This economical source compared to other
natural sources is still underutilized. The overall objective of this
work is to extract the bres by retting and mechanical procedures
and incorporating them into polyester resin matrix to prepare the
composites at various volume fractions of bre. The resulting com-
posites were tested and characterized to evaluate the tensile, ex-
ural and dielectric properties.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Matrix
Unsaturated polyester resin of grade ECMALON 4411 was pur-
chased from Ecmass resins Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad, India. The resin
has a density of 1360 kg/m3, Youngs modulus of 440 MPa, tensile
strength of 15.1 MPa and elongation at break of 3.4%.
2.2. Extraction of bres
Sisal and banana bres are collected from various local sources
where as vakka and bamboo bres are extracted in the laboratory
using retting and mechanical extraction procedure which was ex-
plained in detail in the earlier work [25].
3. Composite preparation
Unidirectional composites were prepared using polyester ma-
trix to assess the reinforcing capacity and dielectric strength of var-
ious natural bres considered in the present study. The quantity of
accelerator and catalyst added to resin at room temperature for
curing was 1.5% by volume of resin each. Hand lay-up method
was adopted to ll up the prepared mould with an appropriate
amount of polyester resin mixture and unidirectional bres, start-
ing and ending with layers of resin. Care has been taken to mini-
mize bre movement to yield good quality, unidirectional bre
composites. Therefore, at the time of curing, a compression pres-
sure of 0.05 MPa was applied on the mould and the composite
specimens were cured for 24 h.
Fibre conguration and volume fraction are two important fac-
tors that affect the properties of the composite. In this work, the
conguration is limited to unidirectional and continuous bres
equal to the length of the specimen (160 mm) in case of tensile
testing, 100 mm for exural testing and 120 mm for dielectric test-
ing and the composite samples were prepared with ve different
volume fractions of various bres. The composites are also post-
cured for 2 h at 80 C after removing from the mould for exural
testing.
4. Testing of composites
4.1. Tensile and exural testing
The unidirectional composite specimens were made as per the
ASTM D638 M to measure the tensile properties. The length, width
and thickness of the specimen were 160, 12.5 and 3 mm,
respectively.
Three point bend tests were performed in accordance with
ASTM D 790 M test method I, procedure A to measure exural
properties. The samples were 100 mm long by 25 mm wide by
3 mm thick. In three point bend test, the outer rollers are 64 mm
510 K. Murali Mohan Rao et al. / Materials and Design 31 (2010) 508513

apart. A three point bend test is chosen because it requires less Vakka
150 Sisal
material for each test and eliminates the need to accurately deter-

Mean tensile strength (MPa)

Bamboo
mine center-point deections with test equipment. The exural Banana
120
modulus and the maximum composite stress were calculated
using the relationships given in our earlier paper [26].
Five identical samples were prepared for each volume fraction 90
of bre and all the specimens were tested at a strain rate of
0.5 mm/min using an electronic tensometer. The density of the - 60
bre and its composites were measured using picnometric
procedure. 30

4.2. Dielectric testing 0

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
The composite specimens were made as per the ASTM D149, to
measure the dielectric strength. The specimens having dimensions
Volume fraction
of 120  120  3 mm are reinforced with bres in a single direc- Fig. 1. Effect of volume fraction of bre on mean tensile strength of various natural
tion along 120 mm length. The dielectric breakdown voltage is bre composites.
determined at ve points for each specimen and the average value
is considered for the analysis. The points selected are distant en-
ough so that there is no ashover. The test is carried out at 50 Hz Vakka
frequency and room temperature. Digital micrometer of 2.5 Sisal

Mean tensile modulus (GPa)

0.001 mm least count is used to nd the thickness of specimen at Bamboo
2 Banana
break down point and the test was repeated for all specimens fab-
ricated from different kinds of bres.
1.5
5. Results and discussion
1
5.1. Tensile properties
0.5
The density of the vakka bre was very less compared to the
established bres like sisal, bamboo, coir and banana, which was
0
an attractive parameter in designing lightweight material [25]. 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
The diameter of different bres under consideration varied be-
tween 175 and 250 lm. Volume fraction
Ultimate tensile strength and modulus of vakka bre reinforced Fig. 2. Effect of volume fraction of bre on mean tensile modulus of various natural
composites, along with sisal, bamboo and banana composites are bre composites.
presented in Table 1.
The effect of volume fraction of bre on tensile strength and
modulus for vakka bre reinforced composites in comparison to si- tion of bre (0.37). This is due to lower percentage strain of vakka
sal, bamboo and banana composites are presented in Figs. 1 and 2. bre composite compared to banana and sisal composites.
It is observed that the tensile strength of all bre reinforced com- The effect of volume fraction of bre in the composite on the
posites considered in the present study increase with volume frac- specic tensile strength and modulus are also shown in Figs. 3
tion of bre in the order of sisal, banana, vakka and bamboo. At a and 4. The specic tensile strength increases linearly with volume
volume fraction of bre 0.37 approximately in the composite, the fraction of bre. As the volume fraction of bre increases in the
tensile strength of vakka bre composite is about 32%, 8% higher composite the specic tensile strength of vakka bre composite
than those of sisal, banana composites, respectively, and compara- is higher than those of sisal and banana composites in the present
ble to that of bamboo composite. This enhancement is attributed to
the strength and stronger bonding of vakka bre with the polyester
matrix compared to sisal and banana. 0.12 Vakka
The tensile modulus of all composites considered in the present Sisal
Bamboo
study increases with volume fraction of bre in the composite in
Specific tensile strength

0.1 Banana
the order of banana, sisal, vakka and bamboo. It is also observed
(MPa/(kg m )

that the tensile modulus of vakka bre composite is 66%, 12% high- 0.08
-3

er than those of banana, sisal bre composites, respectively, and

comparable to that of bamboo composite at the same volume frac- 0.06

Table 1 0.04
The tensile properties of vakka bre composites, along with other natural bre
reinforced composites at 0.37 volume fraction of bre.
0.02
Name of the Volume fraction Ultimate tensile Tensile modulus
composite of bre strength (MPa) (GPa) 0
Plain polyester 0.00 15.1 0.44 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Vakka 0.372 66.0 1.79
Sisal 0.370 50.0 1.60 Volume fraction
Banana 0.374 60.9 1.08
Bamboo 0.371 121.5 2.23 Fig. 3. Effect of volume fraction of bre on specic tensile strength of various
natural bre composites.
 K. Murali Mohan Rao et al. / Materials and Design 31 (2010) 508513 511

Vakka 4.50 Vakka

2.5

Mean flexural modulus (GPa)

Sisal Sisal
Bamboo Bamboo
Banana 3.75
Specific tensile modulus

Banana
2
3.00
(MPa/(kg m )
-3

1.5
2.25

1 1.50

0.75
0.5
0.00
0 0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 Volume fraction
Volume fraction
Fig. 6. Effect of volume fraction of bre on mean exural modulus of various
Fig. 4. Effect of volume fraction of bre on specic tensile modulus of various natural bre composites.
natural bre composites.

study. The specic tensile modulus also increases linearly with vol-
Vakka
ume fraction of bre for all bre composites considered in the 0.15 Sisal
study. Bamboo

Specific flexural strength

Banana
0.12
5.2. Flexural properties

(MPa/ kg m )
-3
0.09
Ultimate exural strength and modulus of vakka bre rein-
forced composites, along with sisal, bamboo and banana compos- 0.06
ites at approximately 0.39 volume fraction of bre, are presented
in Table 2 for comparison.
0.03
The effect of volume fraction of bre on exural strength and
modulus for vakka bre reinforced composites in comparison to si-
sal, bamboo and banana composites are presented in Figs. 5 and 6. 0
It is observed that the exural strength of all bre reinforced com- 0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50
posites considered in the present study increases with volume Volume fraction
fraction of bre in the order of vakka, banana, sisal, and bamboo
Fig. 7. Effect of volume fraction of bre on specic exural strength of various
natural bre composites.

Table 2
The exural properties of vakka bre composites, along with other natural bre
reinforced composites at 0.39 volume fraction of bre.
up to 0.27 volume fraction of bre. As the volume fraction of bre
Name of the Volume fraction Ultimate exural Flexural modulus increases beyond 0.27 approximately, the exural strength of vak-
composite of bre strength (MPa) (GPa) ka bre composite crosses that of banana composite and this is
Plain polyester 0.00 66.0 1.45 clearly observed up to 0.39 volume fraction of bre in the present
Vakka 0.397 93.79 3.32 study.
Sisal 0.390 98.1 2.46
The exural modulus of all composites considered in the pres-
Banana 0.392 91.40 2.04
Bamboo 0.391 127.1 3.65
ent study increases with volume fraction of bre in the composite
in the order of banana, sisal, vakka and bamboo. It is also observed
that the exural modulus of vakka bre composite is 63% and 35%
more than those of banana and sisal bre composites, respectively,
unlike exural strength and is also very close to that of bamboo
Vakka composite at 0.39 volume fraction of bre in the composite. This
150
is due to higher exural stiffness of vakka bre composite com-
Mean flexural strength (MPa)

Sisal
Bamboo pared to banana and sisal bre composites.
120 Banana
The effect of volume fraction of bre in the composite on the
90 specic exural strength and modulus are also shown in Figs. 7
and 8. The specic exural strength and modulus increases linearly
60 with volume fraction of bre. As the volume fraction of bre in-
creases in the composite the specic exural strength of vakka -
30 bre composite is considerably higher than that of banana
composite and is very close to sisal composite in the present study.
0 The specic exural modulus also increases linearly with volume
0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 fraction of bre for all bre composites considered in the study
and the specic exural modulus of vakka bre composite is 82%
Volume fraction
and 60% more than those of banana and sisal bre composites,
Fig. 5. Effect of volume fraction of bre on mean exural strength of various natural respectively, which is due to lower density of the vakka composite
bre composites. compared to other composites.
512 K. Murali Mohan Rao et al. / Materials and Design 31 (2010) 508513

3.75 Vakka sisal bre composites and comparable to that of bamboo compos-
Sisal ite at highest volume fraction of bre. As the volume fraction of -
Specific flexural modulus

Bamboo
Banana bre increases in the composite the specic tensile strength of vakka
3.00
bre composite is also higher than those of sisal and banana com-
(MPa/kg m )
-3

posites in the present study.

2.25
The exural modulus of vakka bre composite is much higher
than those of banana and sisal bre composites unlike exural
1.50 strength and is also very close to that of bamboo composite as
the volume fraction of bre increases up to 0.39 in the composite,
0.75 and the same trend is also observed in specic exural modulus
with respect to volume fraction of bre in the composite.
0.00 It is also worth noticing that the dielectric strength of vakka -
0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 bre composites increases with increase in volume fraction of bre
in the composite in the present study. This is a very rare phenom-
Volume fraction
enon which is not observed in many of the natural bre compos-
Fig. 8. Effect of volume fraction of bre on specic exural modulus of various ites. Hence, based on the availability, cheaper and good dielectric
natural bre composites. strength of vakka bre composites investigated in the present re-
search work, the composite can certainly be considered for electri-
cal insulation applications in addition to fabrication of lightweight
Vakka
20.00 materials used in automobile body building, packaging industry,
Sisal
Bamboo partition panels, etc.
Dielectric breakdown

16.00 Banana
voltage (kV/mm)

12.00
8.00
4.00
0.00
0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30
Volume fraction
Fig. 9. Effect of volume fraction of bre on dielectric strength of various natural
bre composites.
5.3. Dielectric properties
The effect of volume fraction of bre on dielectric strength of
various natural bre reinforced polyester composites is shown in
Fig. 9. It is observed that the dielectric strength of all composites
decreases with increase in volume fraction of bre in the compos-
ite except in vakka bre composite. The rate of decrease of dielec-
tric strength is more in case of banana composite compared to sisal
and bamboo bre composites as the volume fraction of bre in-
creases in the composite. It is also interesting to notice that the
dielectric strength of vakka bre composites increase with increase
in volume fraction of bre. This is a very rare phenomenon which is
not observed in many of the natural bre composites. Hence, based
on the availability and good dielectric strength of vakka bre com-
posites investigated in the present research work, this can be con-
sidered as one of the potential electrical insulation materials.
6. Conclusions
The process of extraction of vakka bre is simple and results in
an excellent quality, quantity and lengthy bre useful for fabrica-
tion of large composite components. The lower density of vakka -
bre is also an interesting parameter in designing lightweight
materials compared to other bres considered in the present study.
The mean tensile strength of vakka bre composite at highest
volume fraction of bre in the present study is much higher than
those of sisal and banana composites and comparable to that of
bamboo composite. It is also concluded that the mean tensile mod-
ulus of vakka bre composite is higher than those of banana and
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the nancial support ex-
tended by the All India Council for Technical Education, IG Sports
Complex, IP Estate, New Delhi, India. (F. No. 8017/RDII/BOR/TMAT
049/Rec. 416) under Thrust Area Programme in Technical Educa-
tion to carryout this research project.
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