development and characterization of low cost composite ... - ethesis

DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTERIZATION OF LOW COST COMPOSITE FROM SUGARCANE BAGASSE WASTE

A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF

Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering By Punyapriya Mishra

Department of Mechanical Engineering National Institute of Technology Rourkela -769 008 (India) May-2011

DEVELOPMENT AND CHARACTERIZATION OF LOW COST COMPOSITE FROM SUGARCANE BAGASSE WASTE A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF

Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering Submitted to National Institute of Technology, Rourkela (Deemed University)

By Punyapriya Mishra Under the supervision of Dr. Samir Kumar Acharya

Department of Mechanical Engineering National Institute of Technology Rourkela -769 008 (India) May-2011

Dedicated to My Father-in-Law Late Dr. Niranjan Debata

National Institute of Technology Rourkela-769008 (Orissa), INDIA

CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the thesis entitled “Development and Characterization of low cost composite from Sugarcane Bagasse waste” submitted to the National Institute of Technology,

Rourkela (Deemed University) by

Punyapriya Mishra, Roll No. 507-ME-

011 for the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering is a record of bonafide research work carried out by her under my supervision and guidance. The results presented in this thesis has not been, to the best of my knowledge, submitted to any other University or Institute for the award of any degree or diploma.

The thesis, in my opinion, has reached the standards fulfilling the requirement for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in accordance with regulations of the Institute.

Date: -

(Dr. S. K. Acharya)

20th -May-2011

Associate Professor Mechanical Engineering Department

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is with a feeling of great pleasure that I would like to express my most sincere heartfelt gratitude to Dr.S.K.Acharya, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, NIT, Rourkela for suggesting the topic for my thesis report and for his ready and able guidance throughout the course of my preparing the report. I am greatly indebted to him for his constructive suggestions and criticism from time to time during the course of progress of my work. I express my sincere thanks to Prof. R.K.Sahoo, Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, NIT, Rourkela for providing me the necessary facilities in the department. I also express my thanks to Dr. S. C. Mishra of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department for helping in the micro structural study in his department. I thankful to Sri Rajesh Pattnayak for his co-operation in experimental work. I am also thankful to all the staff members of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and to all my well wishers for their inspiration and help. This work is also the outcome of the blessing guidance and support of my father Mr. D.N.Mishra, my mother Dr. R.L.Dubey & my mother-in-law Mrs. Giribala Debata. This work could have been a distant dream if I did not get the moral encouragement and help from my husband, Ar. N.R.Debata. He equally shared my success and failures with me. My son Debaditya sacrificed many of his pleasant dreams for me. This thesis is the outcome of the sincere prayers and dedicated support of my family.

Finally, I wish to acknowledge the support given to me by Dr. D.K.Tripathy, Vice-Chancellor, VSSUT, Burla and all the staff members of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, VSSUT, Burla.

Date: - 20th-May-2011

(Punyapriya Mishra) ii

ABSTRACT

Environmental awareness today motivates the researchers, worldwide on the studies of natural fiber reinforced polymer composite and cost effective option to synthetic fiber reinforced composites. The availability of natural fibers and ease of manufacturing have tempted researchers to try locally available inexpensive fibers and to study their feasibility of reinforcement purposes and to what extent they satisfy the required specifications of good reinforced polymer composite for different applications. With low cost and high specific mechanical properties, natural fiber represents a good renewable and biodegradable alternative to the most common synthetic reinforcement, i.e. glass fiber. Despite the interest and environmental appeal of natural fibers, there use is limited to non-bearing applications, due to their lower strength compared with synthetic fiber reinforced polymer composite. The stiffness and strength shortcomings of biocomposites can be overcome by structural configurations and better arrangement in a sense of placing the fibers in specific locations for highest strength performance. Accordingly extensive studies on preparation and properties of polymer matrix composite (PMC) replacing the synthetic fiber with natural fiber like Jute, Sisal, Pineapple, Bamboo and Kenaf were carried out. These plant fibers have many advantages over glass fiber or carbon fiber like renewable, environmental friendly, low cost, lightweight and high specific mechanical performance.

Large varieties of sugar cane grow abundantly in many parts of India. Bagasse is considered to be a by-product of the milling process after production of sugar. Bagasse (fibrous residue) is essentially a waste product that causes mills to incur additional disposal costs. Bagasse is mainly used as a burning raw material in the sugar cane mill furnaces. The low caloric power of bagasse makes this a low efficiency process. Also, the sugar cane mill management encounters problems regarding regulations of “clean air” from the Environmental Protection Agency, due to the quality of the smoke released in the atmosphere. Presently 85% of bagasse production is burnt. Even so, there is an excess of bagasse. Usually this excess is deposited on empty fields altering the landscape.

With increasing emphasis on fuel efficiency, it is expected that bagasse based composites may enjoy wider applications in automobiles and railway coaches & buses for public transport system. There also exist an excellent opportunity in fabricating bagasse iii

based composites towards a wide array of applications in building and construction industry. Value added novel applications of bagasse based composites would not go in a long way in improving the quality of life of people engaged in bagasse cultivation, but would also ensure international market for cheaper substitution. Against this back ground the present research work has been undertaken with an objective to explore the use of natural fiber Bagasse as a reinforcement material in epoxy base.

The work presented in this dissertation involves investigation of two distinct problems of natural fiber composites:

i.

A study of favourable mechanical properties of Bagasse fiber in thermosetting matrix composite.

ii.

An experimental investigation of tribological potential of Bagasse fiber reinforced composite. To study the mechanical properties of the composite, different volume fractions of

fiber have been taken. These fibers were randomly distributed in the matrix. Usual handlay-up technique has been adopted for manufacturing the composite. To find out the critical fiber length Single fiber Pull-out test has been carried out. To have a good compatibility between the fiber and matrix, chemical modification of fibers such as Acetone and Alkali treatments has been carried out. It was found that alkali treated fiber composite exhibits favourable strength and stiffness in comparison to acetone treatments. Moisture absorption behaviour of both treated and untreated fiber composite was also carried out.

For studying the tribo-potential of Bagasse fiber, different wear tests like abrasive wear test (multi-pass condition) on Pin-on-Disc wear testing machine, two body abrasion wear test (Single pass condition) by Two-body abrasion wear tester and Solid particle erosion behaviour by Air jet erosion test rig, have been carried out. All these tests have been carried out as per ASTM standard. The abrasive wear test results shows that the wear rate of pure epoxy reduces significantly with the addition of Bagasse fiber up to 20 vol%. The wear anisotropy of the composite studied with Two-body abrasion tester shows wear characteristics follow the following the trends: WNO < WAPO