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Experimental evaluation of hybrid composites by the Cu addition
Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Materials Today: Proceedings journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matpr
Experimental evaluation of hybrid composites by the Cu addition A. Godwin Antony, P. Lakshmanan, S.V. Kajendira Kumar, S. Dinesh, K. Rajaguru, P. Parameswaran K. Ramakrishnan College of Technology, Samayapuram, Trichy 621112, India
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 31 May 2019 Accepted 7 June 2019 Available online xxxx Keywords: Copper powder Polymer matrix Fiber reinforced composites Glass reinforced composites Mechanical properties
a b s t r a c t Natural fibers plays an important role in modern FRPs. To obtain higher mechanical properties glass fibers are incorporated to prepare hybrid FRP composites. This study, focuses the effect of copper metal powder in the polymer matrix i.e. the metal powder is mixed in the resin itself with varying proportions along with the banana and glass fibers. The study concentrates on mechanical properties of the obtained hybrid composites suited for automotive applications. The result showed better mechanical properties. Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Recent Trends in Nanomaterials for Energy, Environmental and Engineering Applications.
1. Introduction In recent trends, fiber reinforced hybrid composites has been employed as the substitute for automobile parts, human implants, electrical applications etc., due to their good mechanical properties. Also the fiber reinforced polymer (PMCs) are biodegradable which makes it suited for environmental friendly [1,2,22]. Technology in composites has been growing higher in recent days. The composites technology has enabled the production of outstanding FRCs with respects to better damage tolerance, impact resistance, toughness, sustainability, renewability, strength, electromagnetic transparency, biodegradability, environmental superiority, cost and ease of productions, part count reduction, stiffness, design flexibility, low weight, mechanical damping, strength properties as well as chemical, thermal, high corrosion and wear resistance when compared with the conventional metallic and other engineering materials These PMCs are manufactured by number of methods. They matrix would be the polymer resins such as Epoxies, Polyester, Bismaleimide, Polymides, Phenolics, etc which are reinforced with Carbon, Glass, etc. and are manufactured through steps such as Manual Prepeg layup, Fiber replacement, curing, Compression molding, Pultrusions, etc. Addition of Fibers in the matrix have applications in Space, Sports, Civil infrastructures, Marines, etc. Now-a-days, composites find applications in Ballast. The addition of fiber reinforcement has vast advantage over synthetic fibers which are used before for composites. Regarding natural fiber reinforcements, banana is most abundantly available with low cost in regions of India and some other tropical countries
like Malaysia, etc. which are available in plenty of varieties. Not only banana but also many natural fibers incorporation of glass fibers are also used [6,28,29]. These banana fiber has high Young’s Modulus suited for flexible applications. These banana fibers have numerous applications even in pipe line materials when reinforced with PVC [3]. Also banana have good tensile property which suited many applications. The reasons for the development of hybrid composites of fiber reinforced fibers along with the glass fiber [4,5]. These fiber obtained from either plant or animal has to be treated to make it suitable for reinforcements. Even though, these banana find naturally, they have to be undergo treatment for make it use in engineering applications. The treatment of banana fibers with different NaOH combinations and found that 1 N NaOH treatment is best suited for the banana fibers [8]. The combination of banana and glass fiber with the polymer matrix has given good mechanical properties, flexural strength especially for the hybrid composites. The design of composites are made by keeping glass, banana, sisal and resins by varying the layers [12]. However, two glass fibers are enough to maintain the mechanical properties. The mechanical properties improvement in banana natural fiber due to the alterations made in its configurations. The banana fibers were ranked according to the improvements [13]. The banana fibers when added with bamboo fiber in the epoxy matrix shows better impact strength. Thus showed banana fibers can be used with epoxies matrices for better properties [14]. The banana and glass fiber in the polymer matrix showed better flexural and good impact strength. So by this banana and glass fiber shall be suited for applications where more flexural strength is required [15].
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.378 2214-7853/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Recent Trends in Nanomaterials for Energy, Environmental and Engineering Applications.
Please cite this article as: A. Godwin Antony, P. Lakshmanan, S. V. Kajendira Kumar et al., Experimental evaluation of hybrid composites by the Cu addition, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.378
2
A. Godwin Antony et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
Table 1 Fabrication of Composites. Laminates
Orientation
Banana (wt %)
Glass fiber (wt%)
Copper Metal Powder (wt%)
Polymer
1 2 3 4 5
G/B/G G/B/G G/B/G G/B/G G/B/G
30 30 30 30 30
14 14 14 14 14
1 2 3 4 5
Bal. Bal. Bal. Bal. Bal.
A bio degradable composites by incorporating banana fibers in polylactic acid showed high performance of mechanical properties which are ecofriendly [16]. Flexural strength was obtained by finite element analysis for glass and carbon fibers in epoxy and found that it was lowered in this fibers unusually [17]. Carbon nanotubes reinforced carbon/carbon-copper composites were fabricated by chemical vapor infiltration. The effect of copper and CNTs on the microstructure and flexural properties of carbon/carbon (C/C) composites were investigated. The result showed that flexural strength of C/C-Cu-CNT are larger than pure C/C and C/C-Cu composites [18,30]. This study focuses on the effect of Copper nano metal powder dispersed in epoxy matrix reinforced with banana and glass fibers. The paper focuses on only the flexural strength of the composites. However, the epoxy-sisal with the addition of aluminum and found that the impact, tensile and elastic modulus increases with the addition of aluminum metal powder [19,31]. These nanopowders are used for making alloys and natural extract are used to blend with diesel [21–27].
2.4. Fabrication of composites The stainless steel mold is prepared with the dimensions of 210*210*40 mm3. The base of the mold is spread by polyethylene sheet is fixed and the top portion is covered by silica spray for easy removal of composites. The first coating is done by mixing the copper dispersed epoxy mixed with hardener with the ratio of 100:15. The hardener ratio was increased for obtaining more adhesion of copper with epoxy. Then the E-glass fiber is placed on the top as the second layer. Then banana fiber obtained manually is placed as the 3rd layer. Finally the top layer is covered with glass fiber. 5 samples from each laminates are tested to obtain uniform results. The weight percentage of copper powder is alone varied to study the effect of copper on FRP composites. The composites are made from compression molding method by keeping the composite in 100 ton capacity hydraulic compressor under gradual pressure application for ensuring uniform load for 12 h. Diamond cutter was used for cutting the cured composites in order to maintain homogeneity and uniformity in shapes. The laminates containing different ratio of copper is listed in Table 1.
2. Experiment 2.5. Mechanical testing 2.1. Materials Copper nano metal powder was procured from Alfa Aesar, which has the specification of Spherical – 100 + 325 mesh, 99.9% pure. Banana fibers from the stem of Musa (genus) also known as ‘‘Poovan” in southern India is obtained from manual processes. A sieve for 130 lm was used to separate banana fibers. Epoxy polymer of LY 556 (Diglycidyl Ether of Bisphenyl A) with hardener – HY 951 tri-ethylene-tetra mine are bought from local vendor. Curing agent polyamino phenol is used. Stainless steel mold is prepared with dimension of 210*210*40 mm3. 2.2. Preparation of banana fibers The stem of banana is obtained from the farm field. After this, the stems are crushed by a crusher similar to the extraction of sugarcane juice (with 2 rollers) for the removal of liquid molecules by passing 10 times into the crusher. After this the stems are washed with distilled water and dried at room temperature. Then, the dried stem are scribbed against a rough surface to make fine banana fiber within 130 lm. After this the fibers are treated with 1 N NaOH for removal of moisture [8] and dried once again in sunlight. A sieve is used to obtain fine fibers of required dimensions. 2.3. Polymer and copper mixing – epoxy composite preparation The virgin epoxy polymer is taken in a beaker along with the curing agent and the copper metal powder is dispersed into it and stirred well for 2 h by varying the height of the stirrer for every 15 min at 100 rpm. After this the degassing is done in the ultrasonic beaker. The copper powder mixes with various ratios in the epoxy.
The tensile test was carried out by using the universal testing machine (UTM) by using the ASTM D638 – 03. The rate of crosshead movement is 1 mm/min with load of 400 kN. Flexural test was carried out by using ASTM D 790 – 07. The test speed was at 1.5 mm/s. The impact test was done by ASTM D 256. Finally water absorption test was done with ASTM D 570 standards. Heat deflection test is also done in order to find out the heat resistance of the material by using ASTM D 648. In each test, 5 samples from each plate are tested for getting good results.
3. Results and discussion 3.1. Tensile properties The tensile test for all % of copper powder are measured and presented in Table 2. In each case, 5 samples were used for testing. It is noted that the addition of copper powder has increased the % elongation and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of the composites. The tensile property increases till 4% addition of Cu and decreased thereafter. This is because the bonding between copper and epoxy are not good when metal powder is added above 4%.
Table 2 Tensile Properties. Wt % of Cu
Peak Load (N)
% Elongation
UTS (N/mm2)
1 2 3 4 5
2344.56 2720.78 3169.58 4091.34 2655.273
4.33 5.22 6.73 11.53 5.44
28.87 34.90 42.261 54.553 35.404
Please cite this article as: A. Godwin Antony, P. Lakshmanan, S. V. Kajendira Kumar et al., Experimental evaluation of hybrid composites by the Cu addition, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.378
A. Godwin Antony et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
3
3.5. Heat deflection temperature
Table 3 Flexural properties. Wt % of Cu
Peak Load (N)
Flexural Strength (MPa)
Flexural Modulus (MPa)
1 2 3 4 5
106.43 110.034 114.404 136.25 131.425
84.56 88.96 92.404 110.490 106.425
8867.90 9923.56 9977.65 11473.31 11456.56
Heat deflection temperature was carried out and the results are shown in Table 6 [15]. The standard size of the test bars are obtained with 5 samples in each composites. The heat deflection for the 5% Cu addition is more due to the more Cu content in the matrix which is responsible for heating conduction. However, the copper addition to the FRP decreases the heat resistance as copper is good conductor of heat. 4. Conclusion
Table 4 Impact and Hardness. Wt% if Cu
Impact Energy (kJ/m2)
Rockwell Hardness (Average)
1 2 3 4 5
4.6 5.8 6.5 7.3 6.7
87 93 98 99 95
Table 5 Water Absorption. Wt% if Cu
% Weight Loss in grams
1 2 3 4 5
1.76 1.62 0.98 0.87 0.84
Table 6 Heat Deflection. Wt% if Cu
Deflection Temperature (°C)
1 2 3 4 5
81 78 75 73 66
3.2. Flexural strength Table 3 reveals that the 4% Cu in the composite has more flexural properties than the other. Beyond 4% Cu the adhesion between the Cu and polymer is low therefore, the property begins to decrease. 3.3. Impact and hardness tests The impact capability and the energy absorption of each specimen is calculated by using Izod Impact Testing Machine and shown in Table 4. The impact property for addition of copper powder in the matrix increases but this high energy is due to the glass fiber reinforcements. The two layers of glass fibers holds good for impact. All the samples shows little difference in the impact energy because the glass fiber was reinforced in all the specimens. Hardness value also not much differ because the higher hardness is for the glass fibers. In this study, the glass fiber is taken to as to increase the impact and hardness. 3.4. Water absorption test The water absorption test was carried out by using following formula and results are listed in Table 5. The water absorption increase because of the natural fiber. However, it was decreased by Cu addition
W ¼ ðWfinal WinitialÞ=Wfinal
The hybrid epoxy dispersed with copper powder and reinforced with glass and banana fiber shows moderate flexural strength than the other hybrid composites. The obtained composites cannot be used in areas where heat is more than 60 °C. The water absorption shows the composite can suit moderately in roof applications. The fiber matrix interaction is good but the addition of copper powder reduces the adhesion of matrix. The composite has more ultimate strength which suits in automobile applications. References [1] Daniel B. Miracle, Steven L. Donaldson Introduction to Composites, ASM Handbook of Composite Materials, Volume 21, December 2001. [2] S. Sridharan, Delamination Behaviour of Composites, first ed., Woodhead Publishing Limited, Cambridge England, 2008, pp. 1–788. [3] Bashar Dan-asabe, Thermo-mechanical characterization of banana particulate reinforced PVC composite as piping material, J. King Saud Univ. – Eng. Sci. (2016). [4] M.R. Sanjay, B. Yogesha, Studies on natural/glass fiber reinforced polymer hybrid composites: an evolution, Mater. Today: Proc. 4 (2017) 2739–2747. [5] V.S. Srinivasan, S.R. Boopathy, D. Sangeetha, B.V. Ramnath, Evaluation of mechanical and thermal properties of banana–flax based natural fibre composite, Mater. Design 60 (2014) 620–627. [6] S.M. Sapuan, A. Leenie, M. Harimi, Y.K. Beng, Mechanical properties of woven banana fibre reinforced epoxy composites, Mater. Design 27 (2006) 689–693. [8] A.N. Benítez, M.D. Monzón, I. Angulo, Z. Ortega, P.M. Hernández, M.D. Marrero, Treatment of banana fiber for use in the reinforcement of polymeric matrices, Measurement 46 (2013) 1065–1073. [12] ASTM D570-98 (Reapproved 2005), Standard test method for water absorption of plastics. [13] V.P. Arthanarieswaran, A. Kumaravel, M. Kathirselvam, Evaluation of mechanical properties of banana and sisal fiber reinforced epoxy composites: Influence of glass fiber hybridization, Mater. Design 64 (2014) 194–202. [14] N. Amir, Kamal Ariff Zainal Abidin, Faizzaty Binti Md Shiri, Effects of fibre configuration on mechanical properties of banana fibre/PP/MAPP natural fibre reinforced polymer composite, Procedia Eng. 184 (2017) 573–580. [15] M. Ramachandran, Sahas Bansal, Pramod Raichurkar, Experimental study of bamboo using banana and linen fiber reinforced polymeric composites, Perspect. Sci. 8 (2016) 313–316. [16] R. Bhoopathi, M. Ramesh, C. Deepa, Fabrication and property evaluation of banana-hemp-glass fiber reinforced composites, Procedia Eng. 97 (2014) 2032–2041. [17] P.J. Jandas, S. Mohanty, S.K. Nayak, Surface treated banana fiber reinforced poly (lactic acid) nanocomposites for disposable applications, J. Cleaner Prod. 52 (2013) 392–401. [18] Chensong Dong, Uncertainties in flexural strength of carbon/glass fibre reinforced hybrid epoxy composites, Composites Part B 98 (2016) 176–181. [19] Gang Kou, Ling-jun Guo, Zhao-qian Li, Jian Peng, Jie Tian, Cai-xia Huo, Microstructure and flexural properties of C/C-Cu composites strengthened with in-situ grown carbon nanotubes, J. Alloys Compd. 694 (2017) 1054–1060. [21] J. Ervina, M. Mariatt, S. Hamdan, Effect of filler loading on the tensile properties of multi-walled carbon nanotube and graphene nanopowder filled epoxy composites, Procedia Chem. 19 (2016) 897–905. [22] A.M. Rameshbabu, P. Parameswaran, V. Vijayan, R. Panneer, Diffraction, microstructure and thermal stability analysis in a double phase nanocrystalline Al20Mg20Ni20Cr20Ti20 high entropy alloy, J. Mech. Behav. Mater. 26 (3-4) (2017) 127–132. [23] T.R. Kumar, S. Karuppusamy, V. Vijayan, Testing of mechanical properties of hybrid fiber reinforced composites, Asian J. Res. Social Sci. Humanities 6 (10) (2016) 213–225. [24] P.T. Saravankumar, V. Suresh, V. Vijayan, A. Godwin Antony, Ecological effect of corn oil biofuel with SiO2 nano-additives, Energy Sources Part A (2019) 1–8. [25] A. Godwin Antony, S. Dinesh, K. Rajaguru, V. Vijayan, S. Aravind, Analysis and optimization of performance parameters in computerized IC engine using Diesel blended with linseed oil and Leishmaan’s solution, Mech. Mech. Eng. 21 (2) (2017).
Please cite this article as: A. Godwin Antony, P. Lakshmanan, S. V. Kajendira Kumar et al., Experimental evaluation of hybrid composites by the Cu addition, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.378
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A. Godwin Antony et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
[26] A.G. Antony, S. Aravind, S. Dinesh, K. Rajaguru, V. Vijayan, Experimental Investigation of IC engine using various diesel blends, Asian J. Res. Social Sci. Humanities 6 (12) (2016) 221–235. [27] P. Parameswaran, A.G. Antony, S. Dinesh, K. Radhakrishnan, Experimental study on mechanical and corrosion characteristics of NAB alloy with the addition of chromium, Mater. Today: Proc. 5 (2) (2018) 8089–8094. [28] P. Parameswaran, A.M. Rameshbabu, G.N. Krishnan, R. Yogeshwaran, Study of the corrosion properties in a hot forged Cu-Al-Ni alloy with added Cr, J. Mech. Behav. Mater. 27 (3-4) (2018).
[29] R. Praveen Kumar, Navaneethakrishnan Gopal, K. Umanath, Experimental analysis of glass fibre – sisal reinforced composite material, Int. J. Mech. Prod. Eng. Res. Dev. 8 (2018) 943–951. [30] R. Praveen Kumar, Navaneethakrishnan Gopal, K. Umanath, Experimental investigation on mechanical properties of hybrid composite material, Int. J. Mech. Prod. Eng. Res. Dev. 8 (2018) 1264–1274. [31] G. Navaneethakrishnan, Effect of Cnts-Fe2o3 hybrids on mechanical studies of glass fibre/epoxy nanocomposites, J. Chem. Pharm. Sci. 974 (2015) 2115.
Please cite this article as: A. Godwin Antony, P. Lakshmanan, S. V. Kajendira Kumar et al., Experimental evaluation of hybrid composites by the Cu addition, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.378
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Materials Today: Proceedings journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matpr
Experimental evaluation of hybrid composites by the Cu addition A. Godwin Antony, P. Lakshmanan, S.V. Kajendira Kumar, S. Dinesh, K. Rajaguru, P. Parameswaran K. Ramakrishnan College of Technology, Samayapuram, Trichy 621112, India
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 31 May 2019 Accepted 7 June 2019 Available online xxxx Keywords: Copper powder Polymer matrix Fiber reinforced composites Glass reinforced composites Mechanical properties
a b s t r a c t Natural fibers plays an important role in modern FRPs. To obtain higher mechanical properties glass fibers are incorporated to prepare hybrid FRP composites. This study, focuses the effect of copper metal powder in the polymer matrix i.e. the metal powder is mixed in the resin itself with varying proportions along with the banana and glass fibers. The study concentrates on mechanical properties of the obtained hybrid composites suited for automotive applications. The result showed better mechanical properties. Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Recent Trends in Nanomaterials for Energy, Environmental and Engineering Applications.
1. Introduction In recent trends, fiber reinforced hybrid composites has been employed as the substitute for automobile parts, human implants, electrical applications etc., due to their good mechanical properties. Also the fiber reinforced polymer (PMCs) are biodegradable which makes it suited for environmental friendly [1,2,22]. Technology in composites has been growing higher in recent days. The composites technology has enabled the production of outstanding FRCs with respects to better damage tolerance, impact resistance, toughness, sustainability, renewability, strength, electromagnetic transparency, biodegradability, environmental superiority, cost and ease of productions, part count reduction, stiffness, design flexibility, low weight, mechanical damping, strength properties as well as chemical, thermal, high corrosion and wear resistance when compared with the conventional metallic and other engineering materials These PMCs are manufactured by number of methods. They matrix would be the polymer resins such as Epoxies, Polyester, Bismaleimide, Polymides, Phenolics, etc which are reinforced with Carbon, Glass, etc. and are manufactured through steps such as Manual Prepeg layup, Fiber replacement, curing, Compression molding, Pultrusions, etc. Addition of Fibers in the matrix have applications in Space, Sports, Civil infrastructures, Marines, etc. Now-a-days, composites find applications in Ballast. The addition of fiber reinforcement has vast advantage over synthetic fibers which are used before for composites. Regarding natural fiber reinforcements, banana is most abundantly available with low cost in regions of India and some other tropical countries
like Malaysia, etc. which are available in plenty of varieties. Not only banana but also many natural fibers incorporation of glass fibers are also used [6,28,29]. These banana fiber has high Young’s Modulus suited for flexible applications. These banana fibers have numerous applications even in pipe line materials when reinforced with PVC [3]. Also banana have good tensile property which suited many applications. The reasons for the development of hybrid composites of fiber reinforced fibers along with the glass fiber [4,5]. These fiber obtained from either plant or animal has to be treated to make it suitable for reinforcements. Even though, these banana find naturally, they have to be undergo treatment for make it use in engineering applications. The treatment of banana fibers with different NaOH combinations and found that 1 N NaOH treatment is best suited for the banana fibers [8]. The combination of banana and glass fiber with the polymer matrix has given good mechanical properties, flexural strength especially for the hybrid composites. The design of composites are made by keeping glass, banana, sisal and resins by varying the layers [12]. However, two glass fibers are enough to maintain the mechanical properties. The mechanical properties improvement in banana natural fiber due to the alterations made in its configurations. The banana fibers were ranked according to the improvements [13]. The banana fibers when added with bamboo fiber in the epoxy matrix shows better impact strength. Thus showed banana fibers can be used with epoxies matrices for better properties [14]. The banana and glass fiber in the polymer matrix showed better flexural and good impact strength. So by this banana and glass fiber shall be suited for applications where more flexural strength is required [15].
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.378 2214-7853/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Recent Trends in Nanomaterials for Energy, Environmental and Engineering Applications.
Please cite this article as: A. Godwin Antony, P. Lakshmanan, S. V. Kajendira Kumar et al., Experimental evaluation of hybrid composites by the Cu addition, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.378
2
A. Godwin Antony et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
Table 1 Fabrication of Composites. Laminates
Orientation
Banana (wt %)
Glass fiber (wt%)
Copper Metal Powder (wt%)
Polymer
1 2 3 4 5
G/B/G G/B/G G/B/G G/B/G G/B/G
30 30 30 30 30
14 14 14 14 14
1 2 3 4 5
Bal. Bal. Bal. Bal. Bal.
A bio degradable composites by incorporating banana fibers in polylactic acid showed high performance of mechanical properties which are ecofriendly [16]. Flexural strength was obtained by finite element analysis for glass and carbon fibers in epoxy and found that it was lowered in this fibers unusually [17]. Carbon nanotubes reinforced carbon/carbon-copper composites were fabricated by chemical vapor infiltration. The effect of copper and CNTs on the microstructure and flexural properties of carbon/carbon (C/C) composites were investigated. The result showed that flexural strength of C/C-Cu-CNT are larger than pure C/C and C/C-Cu composites [18,30]. This study focuses on the effect of Copper nano metal powder dispersed in epoxy matrix reinforced with banana and glass fibers. The paper focuses on only the flexural strength of the composites. However, the epoxy-sisal with the addition of aluminum and found that the impact, tensile and elastic modulus increases with the addition of aluminum metal powder [19,31]. These nanopowders are used for making alloys and natural extract are used to blend with diesel [21–27].
2.4. Fabrication of composites The stainless steel mold is prepared with the dimensions of 210*210*40 mm3. The base of the mold is spread by polyethylene sheet is fixed and the top portion is covered by silica spray for easy removal of composites. The first coating is done by mixing the copper dispersed epoxy mixed with hardener with the ratio of 100:15. The hardener ratio was increased for obtaining more adhesion of copper with epoxy. Then the E-glass fiber is placed on the top as the second layer. Then banana fiber obtained manually is placed as the 3rd layer. Finally the top layer is covered with glass fiber. 5 samples from each laminates are tested to obtain uniform results. The weight percentage of copper powder is alone varied to study the effect of copper on FRP composites. The composites are made from compression molding method by keeping the composite in 100 ton capacity hydraulic compressor under gradual pressure application for ensuring uniform load for 12 h. Diamond cutter was used for cutting the cured composites in order to maintain homogeneity and uniformity in shapes. The laminates containing different ratio of copper is listed in Table 1.
2. Experiment 2.5. Mechanical testing 2.1. Materials Copper nano metal powder was procured from Alfa Aesar, which has the specification of Spherical – 100 + 325 mesh, 99.9% pure. Banana fibers from the stem of Musa (genus) also known as ‘‘Poovan” in southern India is obtained from manual processes. A sieve for 130 lm was used to separate banana fibers. Epoxy polymer of LY 556 (Diglycidyl Ether of Bisphenyl A) with hardener – HY 951 tri-ethylene-tetra mine are bought from local vendor. Curing agent polyamino phenol is used. Stainless steel mold is prepared with dimension of 210*210*40 mm3. 2.2. Preparation of banana fibers The stem of banana is obtained from the farm field. After this, the stems are crushed by a crusher similar to the extraction of sugarcane juice (with 2 rollers) for the removal of liquid molecules by passing 10 times into the crusher. After this the stems are washed with distilled water and dried at room temperature. Then, the dried stem are scribbed against a rough surface to make fine banana fiber within 130 lm. After this the fibers are treated with 1 N NaOH for removal of moisture [8] and dried once again in sunlight. A sieve is used to obtain fine fibers of required dimensions. 2.3. Polymer and copper mixing – epoxy composite preparation The virgin epoxy polymer is taken in a beaker along with the curing agent and the copper metal powder is dispersed into it and stirred well for 2 h by varying the height of the stirrer for every 15 min at 100 rpm. After this the degassing is done in the ultrasonic beaker. The copper powder mixes with various ratios in the epoxy.
The tensile test was carried out by using the universal testing machine (UTM) by using the ASTM D638 – 03. The rate of crosshead movement is 1 mm/min with load of 400 kN. Flexural test was carried out by using ASTM D 790 – 07. The test speed was at 1.5 mm/s. The impact test was done by ASTM D 256. Finally water absorption test was done with ASTM D 570 standards. Heat deflection test is also done in order to find out the heat resistance of the material by using ASTM D 648. In each test, 5 samples from each plate are tested for getting good results.
3. Results and discussion 3.1. Tensile properties The tensile test for all % of copper powder are measured and presented in Table 2. In each case, 5 samples were used for testing. It is noted that the addition of copper powder has increased the % elongation and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of the composites. The tensile property increases till 4% addition of Cu and decreased thereafter. This is because the bonding between copper and epoxy are not good when metal powder is added above 4%.
Table 2 Tensile Properties. Wt % of Cu
Peak Load (N)
% Elongation
UTS (N/mm2)
1 2 3 4 5
2344.56 2720.78 3169.58 4091.34 2655.273
4.33 5.22 6.73 11.53 5.44
28.87 34.90 42.261 54.553 35.404
Please cite this article as: A. Godwin Antony, P. Lakshmanan, S. V. Kajendira Kumar et al., Experimental evaluation of hybrid composites by the Cu addition, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.378
A. Godwin Antony et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
3
3.5. Heat deflection temperature
Table 3 Flexural properties. Wt % of Cu
Peak Load (N)
Flexural Strength (MPa)
Flexural Modulus (MPa)
1 2 3 4 5
106.43 110.034 114.404 136.25 131.425
84.56 88.96 92.404 110.490 106.425
8867.90 9923.56 9977.65 11473.31 11456.56
Heat deflection temperature was carried out and the results are shown in Table 6 [15]. The standard size of the test bars are obtained with 5 samples in each composites. The heat deflection for the 5% Cu addition is more due to the more Cu content in the matrix which is responsible for heating conduction. However, the copper addition to the FRP decreases the heat resistance as copper is good conductor of heat. 4. Conclusion
Table 4 Impact and Hardness. Wt% if Cu
Impact Energy (kJ/m2)
Rockwell Hardness (Average)
1 2 3 4 5
4.6 5.8 6.5 7.3 6.7
87 93 98 99 95
Table 5 Water Absorption. Wt% if Cu
% Weight Loss in grams
1 2 3 4 5
1.76 1.62 0.98 0.87 0.84
Table 6 Heat Deflection. Wt% if Cu
Deflection Temperature (°C)
1 2 3 4 5
81 78 75 73 66
3.2. Flexural strength Table 3 reveals that the 4% Cu in the composite has more flexural properties than the other. Beyond 4% Cu the adhesion between the Cu and polymer is low therefore, the property begins to decrease. 3.3. Impact and hardness tests The impact capability and the energy absorption of each specimen is calculated by using Izod Impact Testing Machine and shown in Table 4. The impact property for addition of copper powder in the matrix increases but this high energy is due to the glass fiber reinforcements. The two layers of glass fibers holds good for impact. All the samples shows little difference in the impact energy because the glass fiber was reinforced in all the specimens. Hardness value also not much differ because the higher hardness is for the glass fibers. In this study, the glass fiber is taken to as to increase the impact and hardness. 3.4. Water absorption test The water absorption test was carried out by using following formula and results are listed in Table 5. The water absorption increase because of the natural fiber. However, it was decreased by Cu addition
W ¼ ðWfinal WinitialÞ=Wfinal
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Please cite this article as: A. Godwin Antony, P. Lakshmanan, S. V. Kajendira Kumar et al., Experimental evaluation of hybrid composites by the Cu addition, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.06.378