Comparative Study Of Alkali And Silane Treated Sugarcane Bagasse For Mechanical Reinforcement In Epoxy Resin Nano Composites

Abstract

The nano composite of sugarcane bagasse and epoxy resin were prepared through the hand layup technique by using a glass mold. The fiber was initially treated with caustic soda and silane solution prior to the composite fabrication. Three different polymer composites (untreated, alkali, silane) at six different weight percentage of SCBP reinforcement (0wt%, 5wt%, 10wt%, 15wt%. 20wt% ,25wt%) were fabricated. Tensile, Flexural, Impact and Hardness tests were carried out. Both alkali and silane treated SCBP nano composite have better tensile strength than the untreated composite. The tensile strength and flexural modulus of all the composites decreases slightly as the fiber loading increases. The tensile modulus, flexural strength, impact, hardness of the fabricated composites was found to be increasing with increase in SCBP loading. With the exception of hardness test, the silane treated SCBP nano composites shows better properties than the alkali treated and the untreated SCBP nano composites for all the parameters.