Title: Suitability of twisted natural fibre Calotropis Gigantea in automobile interior components

Authors: K. Renugadevi; P.K. Devan

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, RMK College of Engineering and Technology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 601206, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, RMK College of Engineering and Technology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 601206, India

Abstract: In the automobile industry, weight is one of the parameters that govern the selection of body material. The present work is done to suit the natural fibre for the application of automobile interior components based on mechanical properties. The fibre was taken from the stem of a shrub Calotropis Gigantea by retting process. Three types of laminates namely, unidirectional (1 AND 2) and bidirectional were prepared and the properties were tested for the suitability of automobile interior components. The Laminate 1 has very less density of 1.23 g/cm3 with tensile and flexural strengths of 36 MPa and 366.21 N/mm2 respectively with impact energy about 1.44 J/cm. The laminate 2 has ultimate tensile strength of 28.57 MPa with less impact energy of 0.3 J/cm. The bidirectional laminate produces less ultimate tensile strength of 6.3 MPa with 0.82 J/cm of impact energy with higher shear modulus of 618.8 MPa. By comparing the laminates, laminate 1 performs better in terms of tensile and impact strengths.

Keywords: unidirectional orientation; tensile strength; twisted natural fibre; compressive strength; flexural strength.

DOI: 10.1504/PIE.2017.091301

Progress in Industrial Ecology, An International Journal, 2017 Vol.11 No.3, pp.284 - 295

Received: 15 May 2017
Accepted: 27 Nov 2017

Published online: 23 Apr 2018 *

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