STUDY ON THE MECHANICAL BEHAVIOUR OF

HUMAN HAIR AND SUGARCANE FIBER

REINFORCED EPOXY COMPOSITE
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for

the award of the degree of

Bachelor of Technology
in

Mechanical Engineering
Submitted By

Anmol Sharma (17bme007)

Manik Singh Jamwal(17bme022)

Sarabjot Singh Azrot(17bme027)

Under the supervision of

Dr.R.K Mishra

Professor

School of Mechanical Engineering

SHRI MATA VAISHNO DEVI UNIVERSITY

KATRA(J&K),MAY 2020

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 BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project titled TITLE OF THE THESIS is a bonafide
record of the work done by

Anmol Sharma (17bme007)

Manik Singh Jamwal (17bme022)

Sarabjot Singh Azrot (17bme027)

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Bachelor
of Technology in Mechanical Engineering of the SHRI MATA VAISHO DEVI
UNIVERSITY ,KATRA during the year 2020-2021.

Dr.R.K Mishra

(Guide)

Professor

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 ABSTRACT

A composite plate is a plate made by combining two or more materials to obtain unique
mechanical properties in case of natural composites materials being a natural fiber and a resin in
our case fiber being a mixture of hair and dried sugarcane(baggasse) fiber while the resin being
epoxy.

In a composite there are two phases a discontinuous phase(fiber) which gives the composite it’s
mechanical properties while the continuous phase(matrix) which acts as the bind to hold the
fibers in place it also lends the fiber it’s surface quality

Currently the major use of composite plates lie in the air and spacecraft industries. Natural fiber
composites can be made from cotton, jute, coir wood fiber, hemp etc. Using a mixture of hair
fiber and sugarcane as the fiber and using epoxy resin as the matrix.The Purpose of the project
being to manufacture a hair and baggase fiber enforced epoxy composite ad analyzing it’s
variation in mechanical properties with change in the fiber mixture’s composition by weight
percentage along with a corrosion test in acid.

Since there is little work done presently on hybrid composite plate we wish to establish a a
pattern using tensile strength as to if the composite plate will follow tensile strength pattern of
it’s constituents or will there be a variation.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude and deep regards

to my Guide for his exemplary guidance, monitoring and constant
encouragement throughout the course of this thesis. The blessing, help and
guidance given by him time to time shall carry me a long way in the journey
of life on which I am about to embark.

I am obliged to Dr.R.K Mishra for the valuable information and technical

help provided by them in their respective fields. I am grateful for their
cooperation during the period of my assignment.

Lastly, I thank almighty, my parents, family and friends for their constant
encouragement without which this assignment would not be possible.

Dated: Anmol Sharma

Manik Singh Jamwal

Sarabjot Singh Azrot

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 List of Tables

Table Title Page

3.1 Composite plate composition of human hair fiber………………................... 8

3.2 Tensile strength values of sugarcane bagasse after experimentation................ 10

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 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Title Page

1.1 Types of Natural Fibers.......................................................................... 6

3.1 Experimental setup for tensile strength ............................................................ 9

3.2 Specimen for tensile strength........................................................................... 9

3.3 Tensile strength vs fiber length graph.............................................................. 10

3.4 For 10% Bagasse.............................................................................................. 11

3.5 For 20% Bagasse.............................................................................................. 11

3.6 For 30% Bagasse ……………………………………………………………… 12

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page No.

ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................. i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......................................................................................... ii

LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................................ iii

LIST OF FIGURES...................................................................................................... iv

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background and overview of composites ………………………………….......... 2

1.2Need for composite................................................................................................. 3

1.3 Natural Fiber composite………………………………………………………… 4

1.4 Application of Natural Fiber composite plate…………………………………… 5

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 A study on Human hair reinforced composite...................................................... 6

2.1.1 Ecological importance of human hair................................................................ 6

2..2 A study on sugarcane bagasse fiber- reinforced composite……………………. 7

CHAPTER 3 FINDINGS(CASE STUDY)

3.1 Mechanical testing of composites ...................................................................... 9

3.2 The influence of fiber parameters on tensile strength of composites…………. 10

3.3 Sugarcane properties…………………………………………………………. 10

CHAPTER 4 HYBRID NATURAL FIBER COMPOSITES

4.1 Hybrid composites.............................................................................................. 13

4.2 Applications of Hybrid natural fiber composites……………………………… 13

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION

5.1 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………… 14

REFERENCES 15

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 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background and overview of composites
Understanding composites
Composites are dual-purpose adaptable material with combinations that provide various
characteristics that are not obtainable compared to any other different material. Composites are
inseparable forms made by combining two or more suitable materials which are different in
composition and characteristics. The definition however does not differentiate between useful
and necessary composite combinations. The composites should not be recognized simple as a
combination of two materials. In the more wide ranging significance; the combination of
composites has its own different properties. Though all kinds of materials ranging from low
density high strength carbon fiber composites to heat resistant polyimide based composites fall
under the category.

Due to the changing era and development in technology the use of having a good material is
increasing day by day. Here is where composites come into play. Basically the composites are
the materials which are formed from two or more combining materials. Composites are lighter
than aluminum structures. There are two phases of composite materials reinforced and matrix
phase. Reinforcement phase in composite can be in form of fibers and particles. The matrix
phase materials are found in continuous. Matrix basically binds the fiber reinforced composite
and matrix can be polymer ,metal, ceramic etc.
So composites can also be reinforced to increase the all-round mechanical properties of matrix
and basically gives more power to composites.
Based upon the matrix composites material can be divided into:
• Ceramic Matrix Composites (CMC)
• Metal Matrix Composites (MMC)
• Polymer Matrix Composites (PMC)

Polymer matrix composites is the commonly used matrix composites , because of the simple
fact that it is easy to manufacture which leads to less investment and it has very good strength
which is must to have in a composite.

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PMC can be divided into:
1) Thermoplastic Polymer
2) Thermosetting Polymer
Thermoplastic polymer is the polymer which can be melted and recasted as many time you
want. Various examples of thermoplastics are polyethylene, PVC, and nylon.

Thermosetting polymers or thermoset is a polymer consisting of heavy branched molecules.

They are not ease and are very adaptable during warming them up. Epoxy is the best
thermosetting polymer. Epoxy has better insulation properties and many good mechanical
properties.

1.2 Need for composites

Since composites are a combination of 2 or more materials they can showcase properties that are
not otherwise exhibited by a natural material thus in case of highly specific needs the use of
composites is a necessity

Basically glass fibers are reinforced with plastic matrices to form systematic composites and to
form determined shaped compounds. Glass-fiber plastic composite materials have the following
commendable characteristic:

• High specific strength

• Good dimensional stability

• Good electrical cushioning properties

• Smooth to manufacture.

•Less investment required.

Thus composites is being used to full fill needs that cannot be full-filled by naturally available
materials.

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1.3 Natural fiber composite

Natural Fibers are also being used as reinforcing material in composites to increase their
strength. Natural Fibers have good thermal properties, low density and low cost. These fibers are
easily available.

Efforts was been made to develop eco friendly and bio degradable composites for the future
owing to the recent change in climate change and increase concern regarding climate change
while has lead to a enlarge in the use of natural materials in composites to reduce carbon
emissions.

Though they have few problems like poor adaptability problems between fiber and matrix and
relatively peak water absorption.

Three types of natural fibers include:

1) Mineral Fiber

2) Animal fiber

3) Plant fiber

There are many uses of natural fiber reinforced polymer composite like they are being in use of
automobile industries, railways and in our daily use like suitcases etc, in furniture also.

Reinforcement in polymer is synthetic or natural depending upon the application we are making
it for. Synthetic fibers are basically the man-made fibers made by using chemical synthesis.
Mostly natural fibers are used not synthetic because synthetic fibers are costly.

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 Fig 1.1:Types of natural fibers

1.4 Application of natural fiber composite plate

It has been seen in recent years that there has been a rise in the use of natural fiber composite
plates in various engineering applications. Various natural fiber based composites like coconut
fiber, human hair fiber , bagasse , jute , hemp has received great application in automobiles,
construction and being used as structural components. They are also finding use in electrical and
aerospace industry.
The reason for its wide spread application include-

 Low specific weight

 High relative strength

 Low cost

 Biodegradability

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 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 A study on hair fiber reinforced plate

Human hair is a fiber in which keratin protein constitutes 91 % of it which is primarily alpha-
helix structure and is made up of long chain amino acids. There are exceptionally good
properties of human hair like its slow degradation of hair, good chemical composition with any
other material, high lastingness , heat protection, elastic recovery and distinctive interlinkage
with water and oils, which guides us to different types of uses. By adding human fibers to
concrete it improves various properties of concrete like lastingness , compressive strength etc.
Polymer can be in the form of thermoplastic or thermosetting. The thermosetting polymer which
we are using is epoxy and it is widely used. The epoxy is the most ordinarily used polymer due
to it's vast attachment to broad mixture of filaments, widespread mechanical and electrical
properties moreover considerable implementation at lifted temperatures.

Hair is being used as reinforcement material in cement due to following reasons.

1. It has a extreme flexibility or tensile strength which is identical to the same elasticity of
copper wire.

2. Hair is incapable of being chemically degraded.

3. It is available easily.

2.1.1 Ecological importance of Human Hair

It is to be understood that hair fiber is generally regarded as waste and winds up in the sewage
system thus manufacturing of composite plates using hair fiber helps us using a resource which
would otherwise go to waste mixing hair fiber with a fiber of another kind say in our case
bagasse can help make composite plates with reasonable strength and use resources which would
otherwise go to waste.Though for the use of hair fiber composite plates to become mainstream
further research and testing is required.

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2.2 A study on Sugarcane bagasse fiber-reinforced composite
Sugarcane bagasse fiber-reinforced composites are a great composite alternative for glass fiber
composite and have great specific mechanical properties such as stiffness and flexibility.
Another thing about bagasse is that is can be used to reinforce bio composite since it is also
biodegradable and does not compromise on a major advantage of natural fiber composites that is
reduced environmental effect.

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 FINDINGS (CASE STUDY)
Composites plate Formation percentage of materials

C1 Matrix (90wt. %)+ fiber length0. 75mm (10wt. %)

C2 Matrix (80wt. %)+ fiber length0. 75mm(20wt. %)

C3 Matrix (90wt. %)+ fiber length1.5mm(10wt. %)

C4 Matrix (80wt. %)+ fiber length1.5mm (20wt. %)

C5 Matrix (90wt. %)+ fiber length2.0mm (10wt. %)

C6 Matrix (80wt. %)+ fiber length2.0mm (20wt. %)

C7 Matrix (90wt. %)+ fiber length2.5mm (10wt. %)

C8 Matrix (80wt. %)+ fiber length2.5mm (20wt. %)

Table 3.1:Composite plate making with different compositions of epoxy and hair fiber length

Reference No-1

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3.1 Tensile strength testing (Reference No- 1)
The property of composite depend on a great deal of variable due to the phase nature of a
composite some of then being fiber length, resin wt % etc. To test for tensile strength the
composite plate is connected on both side and a load is applied. Experimental setup is shown
below in the figure(fig3.1 and fig 3.2).

Fig 3.1:Experimental setup for tensile strength(Reference no-1)

Fig 3.2:Specimen for tensile test(Reference no-1)

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3.2 The impact of fiber length and percentage on tensile strength of composite plate of human
hair fiber (Reference no-1)
For 10% fiber weight percentage tensile strength increases upto 1 cm then declines.At 20% fiber
loading first the tensile strength increases till 1.5 cm then declines

Fig 3.3:Tensile strength vs fiber length graph(Reference no-1)

3.3 Sugarcane properties (Reference No-6)

Sugarcane bagasse has following properties-
Density-1.2gm/cm3
Tensile strength - 290MPa
Young’s modulus - 27.1 GPa (peak)

Specimen Tensile Load at Yield Load at Peak

No. Strength Yield Stress Brea k Load
(N/mm2 (kN) (N/mm2 (kN)
(kN)

A (10%) 12.73 0.48 11.75 0.08 0.52

B (20%) 10.48 0.44 10.48 0.44 0.44

C (30%) 10.30 0.44 9.45 0.08 0.48

Table 3.2:Tensile strength values after experimentation(Reference no-6)

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Reference no-6

Fig 3.4: For 10% Bagasse

Fig 3.5: For 20% Bagasse

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Reference no-6

Fig 3.6: For 30% Bagasse

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 HYBRID NATURAL FIBER COMOSITES

4.1 Hybrid Composites

Hybrid composites are the one among the multi-utility materials utilized in advanced

structural parts when a highly specific property is required that has quite a advantage as it
enjoys properties of it’s constituent materials.

“Hybrid composites is that the most favorable and well-designed material in which a filler
materials or reinforcement is incorporated during a blend of two similar or dissimilar
polymer matricesor more than one filling constituents are existing during a particular
polymer resin , or both the methods are united.”AU - Alagesan, Praveen Kumar.

The material blend being used will be influenced by the actual application requirements of
the composite and the loading , stress and temperature conditions under which the composite
is to be applied .

4.2 Application of hybrid natural fiber composites

The use of natural fiber as reinforcement in polymer matrix is of great importance due to it’s
ability in reducing carbon footprint and environmental impact and biodegradability . A
hybrid composite is combination of two or more fibers in which one fiber compensates for a
deficiency of property of the other.It is to be understood that of the few natural fiber
composites materials available in the market there has been intensive research on a few and
most of the technologies are still in the development and research phase. There are various
places in automobile where natural fiber composite is used . Plastic/wood fiber composites
have wide applications in decks, docks, window frames and molded panel components use in
automobile frame.

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 CONCLUSION

5.1 Conclusion
The investigation done on the tensile strength of human hair fiber and sugarcane bagasse
reinforced composites gives us the following conclusions:
 It is possible to make composite plate for a wide variety of loading conditions with
variation in fiber length

 The main parameters that determine a plates properties are the fibers length and resin and
fiber wt %

 The fiber percentage in bagasse is inversely proportional to the tensile strength and
bending strength upto a degree.
Taking into consideration the wide variety in properties available in natural fiber composites it
truly will be the material of the future and since there is limited study done on hybrid natural
fiber composites we have till now established the tensile strength values for hair and sugarcane
bagasse fiber reinforced composite now subsequently we will work on the carryover of
properties of individual when put in a hybrid composite to establish optimal value of tensile
strength when the following two natural fibers are mixed thus analyzing the trend of change of
tensile strength in a hybrid natural fiber composite plate with the variation in the fiber percentage
for a given epoxy resin percentage and looking for a trend in carryover of property in case of hair
and bagasse.

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 REFERENCES

1. http://ethesis.nitrkl.ac.in/5532/1/E-THESIS_14.pdf

2. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304904238_Human_Hair_A

_Biodegradable_Composite_Fiber-A_Review

3. http://www.set-science.com/manage/uploads/ISAS2018-

Winter_0039/SETSCI_ISAS2018-Winter_0039_00166.pdf

4. Peças, P.; Carvalho, H.; Salman, H.; Leite, M. Natural Fibre Composites and
Their Applications: A Review. J. Compos. Sci. 2018, 2, 66

5. Alagesan, P.K. (2020). Recent Advances of Hybrid Fiber Composites for Various
Applications. In Hybrid Fiber Composites (eds A. Khan, S.M. Rangappa, M.
Jawaid, S. Siengchin and A.M. Asiri)

6. Sugarcane Bagasse Reinforced Polyester Composites Biraj Dhibar1 , Siddharth

Vikram Singh2, Shoeb Anwar3, Abhineet Singh4 1.2.3.4U.G. Students Mahesh
S5, T.Venkate Gowda6 , 5.6Assistant Professor Department of Mechanical
Engineering, Sapthagiri College of Engineering, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

7. A STUDY ON MECHANICAL BEHAVIOUR OF HAIR FIBER REINFORCED

EPOXY COMPOSITES

BY AVINASH KUMARDEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

8. "Hybrid Fiber Composites", Wiley, 2020

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