International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.

55 (2015)
© Research India Publications; httpwww.ripublication.comijaer.htm

StudyofMechanical Properties of the Composite Material

Produced From the Wastage of Plastic And Coconut Fiber.
1
R.Kalyana Sundaram, 2S.Karthikeyan, 3P.Marimuthu

Department of Mechanical Engineering,Syed Ammal Engineering College,Ramanathapuram, Tamilnadu, India.

E-mail:1rksvgm@gmail.com, 2skarthikeya74@gmail.com, 3pmarimuthu69@gmail.com

Abstract combination with plastics. Such natural fiber

composites are well suited as wood substitutes in the
In present days disposing of plastics is the main
housing and construction sector. Reinforcement with
problem in the world. Because it will not decompose
natural fiber in composites has recently gained
easily it gives severe problem to the global warming.
attention due to low cost, low density, acceptable
The growing concern for the environment and
specific properties, ease of separation, enhanced energy
sustainable development changing this waste material
recovery, CO2 neutrality, biodegradability and
into useful product is very important as well as very
recyclable nature.Initially the low density waste
urgent. In this project this plastic is mixed with another
plastics and the coconut coir pith are collected and
waste material coconut coir pith and produce new
dried in the sun light .Then these dried material are
material that is composite material.
converted into powder form .The powders are put in a
A composite material is made by combining two or
mould box and heated to the melting point and then
more materials to give a unique combination of
allow to dry in atmosphere so a new material formed.
properties, one of which is made up of stiff, long fibers
Finally find out the physical and chemical properties
and the other, a binder or 'matrix' which holds the
and compare with content material. The results show
fibers in place. The fibers are strong and stiff relative
that hardness, compressive strength is improved.
to the matrix and are generally orthotropic. More
Keywords: Coir Pith, LDPE, Combination,
recently natural fibers have been employed in
Composite.

1 INTRODUCTION rigidity, helping to support structuralload. The matrix or

The advantage of composite materials over conventional
materials stem largelyfrom their higher specific
strength, stiffness and fatigue characteristics, which
enables structural design to be more versatile. The
compositematerials consist of two or more constituents
with physically separable phases.Composites
materials that comprise strong load carrying material
(known as reinforcement) imbedded in weaker material
(known as matrix).Reinforcement provides strength and
binder (organic or inorganic) maintains the position
andorientation ofthe reinforcement. The reinforcement
may be platelets, particles orfibers and are usually added
to improve mechanical properties such as stiffness,
strengthand toughness of the most efficient load
are transfer.The composite materials haveadvantages over
other conventional materials due to their higher specific
properties such astensile, flexural and impact strengths,
stiffness and fatigue properties, which enable

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© Research India Publications; httpwww.ripublication.comijaer.htm
thestructural design to be more versatile. Due to their
many advantages they are widely used inaerospace
industry, mechanical engineering applications,
electronic packaging, automobile, and aircraftstructures
andmechanical components.
1.2. Types of composite
 Metal Matrix Composites.
 Ceramic Matrix Composites.
 Polymer Matrix Composites.
1.2.1. Polymer Matrix Composites
Thesecomposites consist of a polymer thermoplastic or
thermosetting reinforced byfiber (natural carbon or
boron). These materials can be fashioned into a variety
of shapes and sizes. They provide great strength and
stiffness along withresistance to corrosion. The reason
for these being most common is their lowcost, high
strength and simple manufacturing principles. Due to
the low densityof the constituents the polymer
composites often show excellent specificproperties. The
reinforcing material can be either fibrous or non-fibrous
(particulates) in nature. There are two major classes of
polymers used as matrix materials such asthermoplastic
and thermosetting. Epoxy resin and polyester resins are
the most commonly used polymer matrix with
reinforcing fibers for advanced composites applications.
1.3. Natural Fiber Composites
Fiber-reinforced polymer composites have played a
dominant role for a longtime in a variety of applications
for their high specific strength and modulus.The coir
fiber industry is particularly importantin some areas of
the developing world. Over 50% of the coir fiber
producedannually throughout the world is consumed in
the countries of origin, mainly India. Hence, research
and development efforts have been underway to find
new useareas for coir, including utilization of coir as
reinforcement in polymercomposites.
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On Coir Fiber Reinforced Composites
Coir is an abundant, versatile, renewable, cheap, and
biodegradable fiber used for making awide variety of
products. Coir has also been tested as filler or
reinforcement in different composite materials.Coir
fiberpolyester composites were tested as helmets, as
roofing and postboxes. Against this background, the
present research work has been undertaken, with an
objective to explore the potential of coir pith and
coconut shell powder as a reinforcing material in
polymer composites and toinvestigate its effect on the
mechanical behaviour of the resulting composites.The
present work thus aims to develop this new class of
natural fiber basedpolymer composites with different
size of particulates and to analyze their
mechanicalbehaviour by experimentation.
In this investigation they study the properties of various
natural fibers that are used to produce the composite
materials. The use of natural fibers in composite
materials is increased due to their low cost, low density,
stiffness, fairly good mechanical properties, high
specific strength, non-abrasive, eco-friendly and
biodegradable characteristics, they are exploited as a
replacement for the conventional fiber, such as glass and
carbon. The tensile properties of natural fiber reinforced
polymers are mainly influenced by the interfacial
adhesion between the matrixes and polymers.(Sunil
Kumar Reddy et al 2013.)In this study they had
investigated the Coir Pith and timber industry waste as
natural fibers forProduced composite materials. This can
be used as filler material in polymer composites.
Sandwich plates were prepared with general
polyesterresin matrix by varying the coir pith /saw dust
content keeping the Palmyra fiber content constant.Both
coir pith and sawdust contribute increase impact
strength. Composites that contain coir pith had Good
 International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.55 (2015)
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Shear properties than saw dust.They concluded that

composites contain coir pith has good mechanical
properties. (Manikandanet al2010)
In this paper they investigate the behavioural study of
natural fibre in concrete structure. They used coir fibre
as a natural fibres added to concrete structure to produce Figure 1 Figure 2
a composite materials used for building sectors. The
result shows that the addition of latex treated coir fibre
increase the compressive strength up to certain level.
Addition of coir fibre also arrest the micro cracks
present in the concrete.Compressive strength is also
Figure 3 Figure 4
improved up to certain percentage. They conclude that
by using natural fibres in concrete improves the
compressive strength and also used to prevent from
micro cracks. (Sahaya Ruben et al 2014).
2. Experimental Work Figure 5
The extraction of coir pith from the coconut fiber is the
2.1. Preparation of CompositeMaterial next process. The coir pith is removed from coconut
fiber by squeezing it in the squeezing machine with the
The first and basic step in our project is the collection of
help of rollers. For removing the moisture content of the
the waste polyethylene cover from the dump. Basically
coir pith it is kept in the atmospheric temperature and it
the low density polyethylene is used to manufacture of
becomes dry.The dried coir pith is screened by using the
the plastic cover bags. The plastic cover bags are varied
sieve process. And the fine coir pith is taken for the
micron level.The collected plastic waste allowed to after
further process.The figure (2) and (3) shows the raw and
molten state. The melting temperature of plastic varies
fine Coir pith. The selection of mould for the production
from 90-130c. The melted plastics are flow out as
of composite material is the important process. The
strands from the extruder. The extruder is a device
selected mould for our project is a rectangular box.The
which is used in the plastic recycling process. It has a
rectangular box with the rounded edge is used for the
heater and feed screw in it for plastic recycling. The
mould to avoid the sharp corner of the product.The
heater is used to melt the plastic and feed screw gives
heating of plastic is the important process in our project.
rotary motor to the plastic to flow as strands from
The heating of plastic is done with the help of LPG
extruder. Then the strands the water cool and solidify
stove. The melting point of plastic (LDPE) is 90-100°c.
the plastic. Then the plastic strands are travel towards
The plastic is heated until it becomes the molten liquid
Pelletizer .The Pelletizer is a device which is used to cut
stage.The molten plastic is poured into the mould for the
the plastic strands to the resins (or) plastic granules. The
further process. The heating of plastic by using the LPG
plastic granules are shown in the figure (1).
is shown in the figure (4). The coir pith is added with

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the molten plastic in the mould. The coir pith is added to

plastics in the ratio andit is mixed with plastic has the S.NO Load Hardness Hardness Hardness
layer form like as FRP process. The coir pith is added to (plastic) (30ml coir pith (60ml coir
(HRB) mix) pith mix)
the plastic in the layer and the finally the upper most
(HRB) (HRB)
layer will be the plastic in the composite material. The
1 60 10 87 89
composite Material is shown in the figure (5).Then the 2 60 10 89 94
composite material is allowed to solidify to set for more 3 60 12 80 98
than 8hours and up to 24hours. Then the composite 4 60 14 79 99
material is cut into the required ASTM size for the Izod 5 60 11 82 89

test. The composite material is subjected to the 6 60 18 81 98

following test to know the mechanical properties of the 7 60 19 88 97

material. They are Izod test, Rockwell, and compression 8 60 19 82 99

9 60 18 85 94
test.
10 60 19 87 92

3. Results& Discussions
Testing of Fiber Composite Material Table (1) Rockwell Hardness Number.
The mechanical properties of the composite material
120
produced from the natural and glass fibers with the Hardness(pl
100 astic)
unsaturated polyester resin are studied. The results of
80
various characterization tests are reported here. This Hardness(30
60 ml coir pith
includes evaluation of compressive strength, impact 40 mix)
strength and hardness has been studied and discussed. Hardness(60
20
ml coir pith
The interpretation of the results and the comparison 0 mix)
among various composite samples are also explained. 1 3 5 7 9
3.1. ROCKWELL TEST:
By using theRockwelltest, the hardness of the material
is determined. The figure shows below are the testing of Figure (6) Hardness of different Composite Materials.

material done on the Rockwell testing machine and the

readings are mentioned below in the table. The dial
indicator shows the valve ofthe tested composite 3.2. Izod Test:

material shown in the figures (7).The values mentioned Izod impact testing is an ASTM standard method of

in the table (1) below are takenthe Rockwell testing determining impact energy.Impact tests are used in

machine at various position of the material. The graph is studying the toughness of material. The Impact strength

shown in the figure (8) is used for the comparison of the and modulus of composite materials are tested and

various ratios of composite material and it is used to tabulated below.

mention the hardness number of material at different

ratio of mix and to the corresponding load.

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© Research India Publications; httpwww.ripublication.comijaer.htm

3. Plastic (180 ml) + 90 13.43

Table (2).Izod Readings
Coir pith (30 ml)
3.3. Compression Test

The compression test is taken in the composite material Table (3) Compressive Readings
by using the Compression Testing Machine. The
4. Conclusion
compression testing machine used in this work is shown
Material Impact Impact Modulus The composite material consists of Coir Pith with LDPE
strength
has good hardness and Compressive strength. And its
Plastic 168 N/mm2 22.4 x 106N/m2
Composite 168 N/mm2 22.4 x106 N/m2 Impact strength also Moderate as compared to plastics.

in the figure below. The dial indicator shows the value But the composite material is mixed in the form of

of the tested material in the figure. The valued heterogeneous mixtureand it can be developed by

mentioned in the table below are compressive strength mixing homogenous mixture by using the Twin Screw

of the plastic and the composite material at different Extruder. The homogenous mixture composite material

ratios and compression strength is calculated by the can give a better result than heterogeneous mixture. The

formula given below. future works Twin Screw Extruder.

COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH: REFERENCES:

Area = L*B = 100 * 67 =6700 mm2 S. Sunil Kumar Reddy, S.P. Akbar Hussain.
“Development and Testing of Natural Fiber Reinforced
Composites with Polyester Resin”.International
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Technology. Oct 2013.

V.Manikandan and R. Velmurugan. “Utilization of bio

resources such as coir-pith, saw dust and palmyra fiber
S.No Material Load Stress as reinforcement material in polyester matrix.” Material
2
(KN) (N/mm ) Science Volume 7, issue 2. Oct 2010.

1. Plastic 70 10.44
J.Sahaya Ruben, Dr.G.Baskar “Experimental Study of
Coir Fiber as Concrete ReinforcementMaterial in
cement Based Composites”. Journal of Engineering
2. Plastic (180 ml) + 80 11.9 Research and Applications ISSN: 2248-9622, Vol. 4,
Coir pith (60 ml)

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Issue 1(Version 3), January 2014, pp.128-131..

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