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Mechanical Properties and Water Absorption of Short Snake Grass Fiber

Reinforced Isophthallic Polyester Composites

Article  in  Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites · August 2013

DOI: 10.1177/0731684413485826

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 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites
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Mechanical properties and water absorption of snake grass longitudinal fiber reinforced isophthalic
polyester composites
TP Sathishkumar, P Navaneethakrishnan, S Shankar and R Rajasekar
Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 2013 32: 1211 originally published online 30 April 2013
DOI: 10.1177/0731684413485826

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Original Article
Journal of Reinforced Plastics
and Composites

Mechanical properties and water 32(16) 1211–1223

! The Author(s) 2013
Reprints and permissions:
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DOI: 10.1177/0731684413485826
fiber reinforced isophthalic jrp.sagepub.com

polyester composites

TP Sathishkumar1, P Navaneethakrishnan1, S Shankar2 and

R Rajasekar1

Abstract
Natural fiber reinforced composites have replaced the existing conventional materials due to its light weight and
enhanced load-bearing capabilities. In the present work, the newly identified snake grass (Sansevieria ehrenbergii) fiber-
reinforced isophthalic polyester composites are prepared by simple hand lay-up method with different fiber weight
fractions. The mechanical properties like tensile strength, flexural strength and modulus are analyzed for the longitudinal
and transverse direction according to the prescribed standards. The obtained tensile strength and modulus are com-
pared with the theoretically predicted values. The impact strength and energy absorption of the composites are analyzed
and compared with control. The water uptake of pure and fiber incorporated resin under varying time period and
climatic conditions are examined. The experimental results proves that the composites containing high fiber weight
content contribute to remarkable increase in mechanical properties and water absorption capabilities compared to
control.

Keywords
Mechanical characterization, natural fibers, composites, water absorption

Introduction
Environmental awareness around the world focuses on
the effective usage of the natural fiber reinforced poly-
ester composites for commercial applications. In last
two decades, the usage of natural cellulous fibers such
as hemp, jute, ramie, sisal, flax, kenaf, cotton, coir,
abaca, pineapple, banana, flax, etc., are increased for
several applications. Many unknown natural fibers pos-
sess good mechanical properties compared to existing
fibers.1 The mechanical properties and fiber pullout of
randomly oriented snake grass fiber reinforced polyes-
ter composites2 and combination of snake grass, coir
and banana fibers reinforced hybrid polyester compos-
ites3 were increased with different volume fractions.
The chemically treated longitudinal fiber reinforced
polyester composites have higher tensile strength than
the raw fiber composites.4 The mechanical properties of
the prepared sisal, jute and coir fiber reinforced poly-
ester/epoxy composites were studied and recommended
for usage in household appliances.5 Polyester compos-
ites had been developed using green husk coir fiber with
different length and content. The results showed that
fiber content had major role on the mechanical proper-
ties than fiber length.6 The tensile strength of the
random and longitudinal oriented sisal7 and jute
fiber8 based polyester composites were compared
with various volume fractions. The maximum tensile
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College,
Erode, Tamil Nadu, India
2
Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Kongu Engineering College,
Erode, Tamil Nadu, India
Corresponding author:
TP Sathishkumar, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kongu
Engineering College, Kongu College Rd, Kumaran Nagar, Erode 638052,
Tamil Nadu, India.
Email: tpsathish@kongu.ac.in

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1212 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 32(16)

strength was achieved for longitudinally oriented fiber preparation. The distinctive properties of the isophtha-
composite. Hemp fiber polyester composites were pre- lic polyester resin and fiber are shown in Tables 1 and 2.
pared using resin transfer molding technique. The com-
posites showed remarkable improvement in flexural
Composite preparation
and impact properties.9 Treated fique fiber was found
to have strong interfacial bonding with polyester resin, The simple hand lay-up technique is adapted to prepare
which indeed resulted in high static and dynamic mech- the composite specimen with various weight contents
anical properties.10 The interlaminar shear strength of likes 10%, 20%, 30% and 40%, respectively. About
jute fiber was improved by chemical treatment.11 The 1% of catalyst and accelerators are used to cure the
physical and mechanical properties of sisal fiber12 and isophthalic polyester resin.2,3 Steel dies are designed
banana fiber13 reinforced thermoset and plastic com- to prepare the composite specimens. Fiber orientation
posites were compared with the theoretical models. and uniformity in the composites is maintained by lon-
The water and chemical solvent was used as absorp- gitudinal fiber orientation attachment to achieve the
tion medium to examine the mechanical properties of unidirectional material property. The resin is poured
coir fiber polyester composites.14 The water absorption over the fiber in female die and two rollers are used
of polyester–sisal fiber composites prepared using dif- to entrap all the air bubbles. Then the closed mould
ferent surface modifiers was analyzed.15 Kinetics of is kept on the hydraulic press and the compressive pres-
water absorption in hemp fiber,16 woven banana sure is applied for 4 h at atmospheric temperature.
fiber17 polyester composites and lantana camara fiber Finally the fibers are reinforced with the polyester
epoxy composites18 were studied. The mechanical prop- resin within the mould cavity of dimensions
erties of roselle/sisal polyester hybrid composites were 300  300  3 mm3. The composite plate is then post-
decreased after water absorption.19 The thermal and cured for 1 h in oven and the final shape of the com-
mechanical properties of random and quasi-unidirec- posite plate is obtained. The longitudinal oriented
tional oriented phormium tenax fiber epoxy composites
were studied. The maximum mechanical properties was
found in unidirectional than random orientation.20 The
effect of fiber length and fiber content on the mechan-
ical properties of banana fiber epoxy composites21 and Table 1. The distinctive properties of the isophthalic polyester
Sansevieria cylindrica fiber polyester composites22 were resin.
examined. With regard to application aspects, different
S. No Properties Unit Range
interior and exterior components of the automobiles23
can be replaced with the help of natural fiber reinforced 1. Specific gravity – 1.1–1.46
composites. 2. Density kg/m3 1125
Many research works had been carried out on nat- 3. Tensile strength as per MPa 16–18
ural fiber based polymer composites, but the studies on ASTM standard
the development of snake grass fiber based composite 4. Tensile modulus as per GPa 0.25–0.4
constitutes in lesser dimension. The main objective of ASTM standard
this article is to prepare the longitudinal snake grass 5. Compressive strength MPa 90–250
fiber reinforced polyester composites (LSGC). 6. Flexural strength as per MPa 30
Mechanical properties and water absorption of the pre- ASTM standard
pared composites at different climatic conditions has 7. Flexural modulus as per GPa 1.1–1.4
been analyzed. In addition, the obtained experimental ASTM standard
tensile strength and modulus are compared with theor- 8. Shrinkage % 0.004–0.008
etically predicted values.

Materials Table 2. The physical and tensile properties of snake grass fiber.

Snake grass fiber (S. ehrenbergii fiber) and resin Properties Snake grass fiber
Snake grass fibers, which are abundantly available in Density (kg/m3) 887
Tamilnadu, southern part of the India, are extracted by Diameter (mm) 45–250
the simple water retting process. Commercially avail- Tensile strength (MPa) 240–450
able isophthalic unsaturated polyester resin, accelerator Tensile modulus (GPa) 6.42
– methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (MEKP) and catalyst – %Elongation 2.87
cobalt naphthalene are used for the composite

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Sathishkumar et al.
snake grass fiber reinforced composites as shown
in Figure 1.
Experimental procedure
Mechanical properties
Mechanical properties such as tensile, flexural and
impact properties are measured based on the ASTM
standards. The tensile properties are measured based
on the ASTM D 638 standards4,18 and the sample
size is 165  12.7  3 mm3.18 The electronic tensometer
setup is used to perform the tensile testing with a cross-
head speed of 1 mm/min using the load cell of 5 kN.
Three-point bending testing is used to measure the flex-
ural properties as per ASTM D 790 standards. The
sample size is 48  12.7  3 mm3 with the depth to
width ratio of 16:1. In bending test, the load cell of
2 kN is used with the cross head speed of 2.5 mm/min.
The impact properties are measured based on ASTM
D-256.6,8,15 The sample size is 64  12.7  3 mm3. Five
specimens are used for testing and the average values of
the properties are reported in this article.
Water absorption of composites
Water absorption tests are carried out with different
time periods and different climatic conditions such as
cold at 10 C, room temperature (25 C) and hot at
60 C.15 The specimens are prepared based on ASTM
D570 standard. The sample size is 64  12.7  3 mm3.20
The specimens are taken periodically and a tissue paper
is used to remove the surface water of the composites.
The percentage of weight absorption is calculated
at different time intervals.18,19
Figure 1. Longitudinal oriented snake grass fiber reinforced
composites plate.
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1213
The percentage weight gain of water absorption in
the composites is calculated at different time interval by
using the following equation.17,18
%M ¼
ðWt  Wo Þ
 100 ð1Þ
Wo
where Wo and Wt denotes the initial dry weight of the
sample and weight of the sample after specific time (t)
in water.
Scanning electron microscope
The fracture morphology of pure resin, untreated and
treated SGFs composites are examined using scanning
electron microscope (SEM, model: JEOL JSM-6390).
The facture zones of the specimens are cut into dimen-
sion of 1  1 cm2. The fracture ends of the tensile and
impact specimens of the composites are mounted on
aluminium stubs in SEM machine for taking image.
Results and discussion
Effect of longitudinal tensile strength and modulus
of the longitudinal snake grass fiber reinforced
composites
The tensile properties of the LSGC are measured for
the various fiber Wf and the resulting plots and SEM
images are shown in Figures 2 to 6. Figure 2 shows the
variation of longitudinal tensile strength versus tensile
strain of LSGC. The stress increases linearly with
respect to strain for all Wf cases. The increase in fiber
Wf shows increase in tensile strength and strain. In ten-
sile strength, the percentage increase between the pure
Figure 2. Longitudinal tensile stress versus strain of LSGC.
LSGC: longitudinal snake grass fiber reinforced polyester
composites.
1214 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 32(16)

Figure 3. Longitudinal tensile properties of LSGC.

LSGC: longitudinal snake grass fiber reinforced polyester composites.

Figure 4. The SEM image of tensile fractured specimen: (a) pure resin and (b) 40%Wf of fiber.
SEM: scanning electron microscopy.

resin to 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50%Wf are 56.8%,
72.8%, 79.9%, 83.2% and 78.60%, respectively.
However, very marginal increase in tensile strength
has been observed for the fiber loading above
30%Wf. The obtained tensile strength is found much
higher as compared to the earlier reported.4 Similarly in
tensile strain, the percentage increases between the pure
resin to the corresponding Wf are 14.9%, 33.4%, 44%,
51.3% and 44%, respectively. The increase in Wf leads
to more fiber accumulation in the composites. The
breakage of composites in the beginning takes little
more strain to failure due to less interaction between
fiber and matrix at higher tensile load.
The maximum tensile strength and strain has
been observed for the 40%Wf fiber loaded composite
(Figure 3). Gradual increase in loading of fiber in the
resin leads to gradual increase in tensile modulus. The
percentage improvements in tensile modulus between
the pure resin to the corresponding Wf of composites
are 49.3%, 59.2%, 64.7% and 65.6% respectively. The
improvement in modulus is higher compared to earlier
report.4 The tensile strength, modulus and elongation
at break of the composites shows 6, 2.9 and 2 times
higher compared to pure resin. Hence, it proves that
addition of fiber in the resin significantly increases the
tensile strength of the composite. But more fiber

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Sathishkumar et al. 1215

Figure 5. Longitudinal specific tensile modulus and strength versus volume fraction of LSGC.
LSGC: longitudinal snake grass fiber reinforced polyester composites.

Figure 6. Transverse tensile properties of LSGC.

LSGC: longitudinal snake grass fiber reinforced polyester composites.

(50%Wf) in the composites decreases the tensile proper- results for the longitudinally oriented fiber reinforced
ties. The SEM image of the tensile fracture specimen polyester composites are compared with the polyester
and pure resin are shown in Figure 4. The fibers and composites containing randomly oriented short fibers2
fibers pull out is more in composites. The obtained with same Wf. The percentage improvement between

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1216
Figure 7. Composite strength versus volume fraction (Vf) of LSGC.
LSGC: longitudinal snake grass fiber reinforced polyester composites.
them is 118.4 and 97.1 for tensile strength and modulus.
Hence the tensile properties of longitudinally oriented
fiber reinforced polyester composites in longitudinal
direction are higher than the randomly oriented short
fiber composites.
Specific tensile strength and modulus of pure and
fiber-filled resin are shown in Figure 5. Specific ten-
sile strength of LSGC increases linearly with increase
in Wf of fiber. Highest tensile strength is found for
the composites containing 40%Wf of fiber. The per-
centage improvements in specific tensile strength
between the pure resin and corresponding Wf are
57.4%, 75%, 82.4% and 85.9%, respectively. The
specific tensile modulus also increases linearly with
respect to Wf of snake grass fiber for all composites.
The percentage improvement between the resin and
corresponding Wf are 54.6%, 64.9%, 70.9% and
72.7%, respectively.
Effect of transverse tensile strength and modulus
of the LSGC
The transverse tensile strength of LSGC is shown in
Figure 6. Increasing the fiber Wf decreases the tensile
strength of the composite. Resin containing 40%Wf
fiber shows 10.2% decrease in tensile strength com-
pared to pure resin and 6.3 times lesser than the value
obtained for longitudinal direction. Also increasing the
fiber Wf (50%) in composites leads to decrease the
strength and modulus. The percentage improvement
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Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 32(16)
of transverse tensile modulus between the pure resin
to 40%Wf is 24.1% and it is 2.2 times less than the
longitudinal tensile strength of composites. Increase in
fiber Wf shows gradual increase in tensile modulus. The
obtained transverse tensile strength of unidirectional
fiber composite is 7 to 8 times lesser than the tensile
strength of longitudinal direction.8
Comparison of experimental and theoretically
predicted tensile strength
The experimental and theoretical value of longitudinal
and transverse tensile strength of LSGC is shown in
Figures 7 and 8. Figure 7 shows the composite strength
versus volume fraction (Vf) of the longitudinal fiber
composites. The theoretically predicted tensile strength
is higher than the experimental values of unidirectional
oriented fiber composite. The percentage difference
between the theoretical and experimental tensile
strength of longitudinally oriented fiber composites
are 20.5% for 13.5%Vf, 27.3% for 27%Vf, 25.9% at
40%Vf and 27.9% at 51%Vf, respectively. The
obtained result shows high deviation between the
experimental and theoretical values. High fiber loading
in resin leads to less adhesion between the fiber and
matrix. Hence, fiber pullout is more for composites
containing high fiber content. The obtained transverse
tensile strength of LSGC also reveals similar results.
The theoretical transverse tensile strength is less than
the experimental values for all fiber Vf. The theoretical
Sathishkumar et al.
Figure 8. Composite modulus versus volume fraction of LSGC.
LSGC: longitudinal snake grass fiber reinforced polyester composites.
values are obtained by using the rule of mixture of
longitudinal fiber composite.12,24
Longitudinal mixture
LC ¼ f Vf þ m Vm
ELC ¼ Ef Vf þ Em Vm
Transverse mixture
m
TC ¼ " # ð4Þ
1Vf ð1ðEm =Ef ÞÞ
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
1 ð4Vf =Þ½1ðEm =Ef Þ
1 Figure 9 shows the impact strength of LSGC. The
ETC ¼ Vf Vm
Ef þ Em
where  LC,  TC,  f and  m are strength of composite,
fiber and matrix expressed in MPa, ELC, ETC, Ef and
Em are Young’s modulus of composite, fiber and matrix
expressed in GPa, VC, Vf and Vm are volume fraction
of the composite, fiber and matrix, respectively. T and
C are transverse and longitudinal fiber composite,
respectively.
Figure 8 shows the experimental and theoretical
Young’s modulus values for the unidirectional fiber
reinforced composites. The experimental Young’s
modulus tested in longitudinal direction is less com-
pared to theoretical modulus and higher than trans-
verse modulus of the composite. The result shows
that the experimental Young’s modulus lie in between
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1217
the theoretical Young’s modulus of matrix and fiber.
Theoretically calculated longitudinal Young’s modulus
at 40% Vf is 48.6% higher and transverse Young’s
modulus at 40%Vf is 13.7% higher than the experimen-
ð2Þ tal values. The fiber accumulation increases the fiber
matrix delamination very quickly in the composite test-
ð3Þ ing. The experimental value is studied up to 51%Vf
because if the Vf increases more than a critical value
the thickness of the composite also increases and the
matrix dispersion is not uniform during composite
preparation.
Effect of impact strength of the LSGC
ð5Þ impact resistance increases linearly with increasing
fiber Wf. The percentage improvement between the
resin to the Wf of fiber-filled composites are 47.2%,
60.8%, 68.7%, 72.9% and 66.5%, respectively. The
maximum improvement is achieved for the 40% Wf
fiber loaded composites, which is 3.7 times greater
than the pure resin. The percentage improvements
between the Wf of fiber loaded composites are 29.7%,
21.4%, 13.2% and 23.26%, respectively. It is found
that the percentage improvement decreases with
increase in Wf of fiber.
The impact energy increases linearly with increasing
Wf of fiber. The percentage improvement between the
pure resin to Wf are 44.4%, 60.9%, 68.9%, 73% and
57.3%, respectively. The impact energy of composite in
40% Wf of snake grass fiber content is 3.7 times higher
than pure resin. So the maximum improvement
1218
Figure 9. Impact resistance and energy versus fiber weight fraction of LSGC.
LSGC: longitudinal snake grass fiber reinforced polyester composites.
between the pure resin to 40%Wf is 73%. The impact
resistance and energy is increased with fiber Wf. The
impact load is evenly distributed in unidirectional
fiber composites. The higher fiber content leads to
more crack path and absorb more energy. Hence the
composites can sustain maximum dynamic load due to
the maximum fiber content present (40%Wf) in the
composites. If the fiber Wf is more than 40%, it
decreases the impact properties. The SEM image of
impact fractured specimen of the pure resin and fiber
containing composites are shown in Figure 10. The
fiber and fiber pull out is more in the fracture zone of
the specimen.
Effect of flexural strength of LSGC
Figures 11 and 12 show the longitudinal flexural
strength and modulus of LSGC. Figure 11 shows the
flexural strength versus strain for the LSGC and it is
almost increases with increase in strain. It is absorbed
that the flexural strength gradually increases with
increase in fiber Wf of the composites. The percentage
improvement between the resin and Wf of fiber contain-
ing composites are 22.2%, 61.8%, 80.5%, 82.5% and
77.56%, respectively. The flexural load increases with
increase in Wf and the maximum load of 200 N is
obtained at 40% Wf, which is 5.7 times greater than
the pure resin. The flexural strain increases with incre-
ment in weight fraction of fiber. Maximum strain rate
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Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 32(16)
of 5.6% is obtained at 40%Wf. The improvement in
strain rate between the pure resin to 40%Wf is
37.7%. The flexural strength does not show much
improvement for fiber Wf beyond 30%. This may be
due to less quantity of matrix isolated in the composite.
The maximum flexural strength and strain is obtained
at 40%Wf fiber containing composite and it is 5.7 times
greater than the pure resin.
In Figure 12, the flexural modulus increases linearly
with increasing fiber Wf. The percentage improvement
of modulus between the resin and Wf of fiber contain-
ing composites are 25.8%, 57.1%, 70%, 82.5% and
65.6%, respectively. The maximum flexural modulus
is obtained for 40%Wf, which is 3.6 times greater
than the pure resin. It is clear that the less adhesion
between the fibers and polyester is the reason for
more strain to failure and maximum fiber pullout.
Also the flexural properties of the longitudinally ori-
ented fiber reinforced polyester composites in longitu-
dinal direction are higher than the randomly oriented
short fiber composites.2 The percentage improvement
between them is 15.75 and 32.43 for flexural strength
and modulus, respectively.
Effect of water absorption of the LSGC
The trends of moisture absorption for 10%, 20%, 30%
and 40% Wf of LSGC under different environmental
conditions are shown in Figure 13. The average values
Sathishkumar et al. 1219

Figure 10. The SEM image of impact fractured specimen: (a) pure resin and (b) 40%Wf of fiber.
SEM: scanning electron microscopy.

Figure 11. Flexural strength versus strain of LSGC.

LSGC: longitudinal snake grass fiber reinforced polyester composites.

of three specimens are considered to plot the curve for
all the composites. The maximum water absorption
takes place at higher fiber loading composites. For all
the three environmental conditions, the maximum
water absorption is obtained at 40%Wf. However, the
initial rate of water absorption is found higher at hot
condition (60 C) (Figure 13(c)). The acceleration of
water uptake of LSGC is based on four factors such
as hydrophilicity of fiber cellulous, lumen, microcracks
in fiber and adhesion between fiber and matrix. The Wf
of fiber in the composites is responsible for increase in
the number of free OH groups. It comes into contact
with the moisture and forms hydrogen bonding which
results in more swelling. It can be clearly seen that the
water absorption normally increases with immersion
time. The weight of the composite is not found to
increase more than a certain value beyond the satur-
ation point. The acceleration of diffusion of water
molecules into the composite is purely time and tem-
perature dependent. Elevated temperature increases the

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1220 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 32(16)

Figure 12. Longitudinal flexural properties of LSGC.

LSGC: longitudinal snake grass fiber reinforced polyester composites.

Figure 13. Water absorption versus square root of time period of LSGC at different conditions.
LSGC: longitudinal snake grass fiber reinforced polyester composites.

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Sathishkumar et al. 1221

Table 3. The water absorption properties of LSGC in different environmental conditions.

Kinetics of water absorption Transports coefficients

Diffusion
coefficient Sorption Permeability
Fiber  1010 coefficient coefficient
Environment Wf (%) M (%) n k (D) (m2/min) (S) (g/g) P) (m2/min)

Cold water at 10 C 10 2.78 0.50310 0.15338 1.9778 0.027778 5.4939  1012
20 6.11 0.43030 0.20189 3.5087 0.061111 2.1442  1011
30 9.92 0.42705 0.18300 5.0359 0.099237 4.9975  1011
40 14.24 0.34125 0.25910 5.9202 0.142433 8.4323  1011
Normal water at atmospheric 10 3.95 0.66851 0.11190 2.5365 0.041121 1.0430  1011
20 9.03 0.45222 0.16588 3.3654 0.099236 3.3397  1011
30 14.29 0.38153 0.22458 5.4453 0.166666 9.0754  1011
40 20.91 0.45780 0.18279 7.8753 0.264406 2.0822  1010
Hot water at 60 C 10 4.67 0.68561 0.11206 2.6050 0.046729 1.2173  1011
20 13.11 0.56884 0.14434 5.0543 0.130769 6.6094  1011
30 23.41 0.54562 0.16255 8.3768 0.233766 1.9582  1010
40 34.22 0.29920 0.32315 0.1248 0.341935 4.2690  1010

activation of diffusion due to formation of microcracks
or voids in the composites, which in turn weakens the
adhesion between the fiber and matrix. In these three
conditions, the time taken for reaching the saturation
point of water absorption is not equal. The saturation
time is approximately 80 h, 60 h, 40 h under cold,
normal and hot water absorptions. The maximum
water absorption for 40%Wf is 14.2%, 20.9%, 34.2%
under cold, normal and hot water, respectively. The
percentage of water observed for all composites is
listed in Table 3. The percentage absorption of water
for the fiber-filled composites enhances with increasing
Wf. Composites containing fibers of 20%, 30%,
40%Wf shows 119.8%, 256%, 412% (cold water)
128.6%, 261.8%, 429.4% (normal water) and
180.7%, 401.3%, 632.7% (hot water) increase in
water uptake compared to 10%Wf of fiber-filled com-
posites (Figure 13). From the experimental results, it
proves that rate of water absorption increases with tem-
perature and time.
Kinetics of water absorption. The kinetics and diffusion
mechanism of water absorptions are obtained based
on curve fitting using the experimental values and
Fickans theory.15,17 The values of n and k are essential
factors which are analyzed from the following
equation.15,17
 
Mt
log ¼ log k þ n log t
Mm
In equation (6), k and n are constant and explains
the mechanism of diffusion which takes place inside the
natural fiber reinforced polyester composite. In Table 3,
the value of k and n constants explains the mechanism
of diffusion that takes place inside the natural fiber
reinforced polyester composites. The k denotes the
interaction between the polymer and water, n denotes
the mode of diffusion take place in the composites. The
value of n should lie in between 0 and 1. If the value of
n ¼ 0.5, the diffusion is Fickian, from 0.5  1, the diffu-
sion is non-Fickian and n > 1, the diffusion is said to be
anomalous.15,18 The values of n and k for water sorp-
tion for the LSGC are given in Table 3. The low and
high value of n clearly shows that the mechanism of
transport deviates from the Fickian. The fiber Wf
increases with decrease in n values. It is also clear
that the n value deviates from the Fickian, which results
in more diffusion of water absorption further improv-
ing molecular motion in the composites. The percent-
age of water absorption is increased at higher
temperatures and it can be attributed to the relaxation
mechanism in the polymer for distorting the polymer
network.18 Also k values increases the water–polymer
interaction in the composites.
Transport coefficients in water absorption. The transport
coefficients are determined for all environmental condi-
tions. The diffusion coefficient (D)15,17,18 is the most
important parameter of Fickian model, which explains
the penetration of water molecules inside the compos-
ite. ‘D’ can be obtained by values measured from the
ð6Þ
curve of moisture absorption in percentage (M) with

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1222
square root of time taken. In this the initial linear por-
tion of the curve fit is consistent with Boltzman’s solu-
tion.17 The following equation is used to determine the
D value.
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Mt 4 tDX
¼ pffiffiffi
Mm  h2
where Mm is the equilibrium absorption of moisture
content in the sample, Mt is the moisture content at a
specified time t, Dx is the moisture diffusion coefficient
and h is the sample thickness. The ability of water mol-
ecules to imprecate among the polymer segments is
determined by the diffusion coefficient. Finally, the dif-
fusion coefficient can be calculated from the following
equation.15,17,20
   fiber. The composites are subjected to longitudinal
h 2 M2  M1 2
D¼ pffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffi
4Mm t2  t1
where t1 and t2 are selected square root of time taken
for water absorption of points in the initial linear por-
tion, M2 and M1 is the respective percentage of mois-
ture content at time t1,2.17 The fiber Wf increases the
diffusion coefficient (Table 3). The diffusion coefficient
for the hot water absorption is found to be higher com-
pared to cold and normal water absorption. The higher
fiber loading of LSGC can have higher cellulous con-
tent which leads to greater diffusivity. The hot water
can quickly diffuse inside the composites, where it
entraps inside fiber cellulose and polymer chains.
Hence, it results in more diffusivity values. The perme-
ability of small water molecules into the polymer is
dependent on diffusion and sorption or solubility17,18
of the liquid in the polymer.
The sorption coefficients can be calculated by the
following equation.
M1
S¼
Mp
where S is the sorption coefficient, M1 is the mass of
the water molecules taken up at equilibrium swelling
and Mp is the initial mass of the polymer sample.
The value of sorption coefficient (S) of the LSGC is
given in Table 3. The increase in fiber Wf increases the
value of S i.e. the water molecules absorbed in the com-
posites are more. The permeability (P) is the product of
sorption and diffusion coefficient.
The permeability of the polymer composite to water
absorption can be expressed by the following equation.
P¼SD
Downloaded from jrp.sagepub.com by Shankar S on September 11, 2013
Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 32(16)
Table 3 gives the values of permeability coefficient
of fiber Wf of the composites. The increase in perme-
ability leads to less fiber–matrix interaction and also the
presence of more fiber content in the composites.
ð7Þ
Conclusions
The LSGC is prepared with various fiber Wf. The
mechanical properties and water uptake under different
environmental conditions are analyzed. The following
conclusions are obtained from the experimental and
theoretical observations.
. The tensile strength and modulus of the LSGC
improves with gradual increase in fiber weight frac-
tions of the composites. The maximum values are
achieved for composites containing 40%Wf of
and transverse modes of testing. The results show
ð8Þ
that the longitudinal tensile strength and modulus
are comparatively higher than the transverse values
of LSGC. Theoretically predicted tensile strength
and modulus of LSGC are higher than the obtained
experimental values. Also the mechanical properties
of the longitudinally oriented fiber reinforced poly-
ester composites are higher than the randomly ori-
ented short fiber composites.
. The flexural strength and modulus of LSGC
increases with increase in Wf of fiber. Composites
containing 40%Wf fiber shows maximum flexural
strength and modulus. The strain rate has been
found higher for more fiber containing composites.
. The impact load is applied on the composite speci-
mens perpendicular to the fiber direction, which
absorbs more impact energy. The impact resistance
and energy gradually increases with increase in fiber
Wf. The maximum properties are obtained at
40%Wf.
. In water absorption, the percentage of moisture
absorption, mode of diffusion, sorption and perme-
ð9Þ
ability coefficients increases with gradual increase in
fiber Wf the composites and immersion time. From
the extensive analysis results, it shows that hot water
absorption is predominantly higher than the other
two. Hence, the optimum weight fraction of LSGC
is achieved for 40%Wf fiber containing composites.
Funding
This research received no specific grant from any
funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit
sectors.
Conflict of interest
ð10Þ None declared.
 Sathishkumar et al.
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