Analysis of Mechanical Properties on ABS Thermoplastic Infused with Jack Fruit Rags

Abstract

Currently, experimental studies are being carried out on fruit fibre reinforced plastics on a large scale. The reason behind its considerable growth is the merits that come with it, such as being environmentally friendly and abundancy in availability. The natural fibre reinforced are environmentally friendly as the polymers are mixed with natural fibres that aid in decomposition after the shelf life of the product manufactured using the natural fibre reinforced plastics. Many automotive, aerospace, sporting goods and building industries are shifting from traditional plastics and are moving towards more environmentally friendly natural fibre reinforced plastics in order to reduce the carbon footprint. In this research acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) along with chopped and air-dried jack fruit rags of about 1 - 1.5 mm in length are used to make a composite specimen of 85%:15% and 80%:20% of thermoplastic polymer to rags ratio. Novelty in this research is the usage of jack fruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) rags instead of fruit fibres. These jack fruit rags are generally considered waste and discarded which then get decomposed.  The rags from the jack fruit are hydrophilic in nature and they attract water particles towards them thereby making the composite wake. In order to make the composite strong enough to withstand the forces, the composite has to be made hydrophobic by chemical treatment. There are many kinds of chemical treatment but in this research, we have gone for NaOH treatment. After changing the nature of rags to hydrophobic, the rags are reinforced with ABS using compression moulding technique to form a natural fibre reinforced polymer. The composite is then machined as per ASTM standards to form a test specimen that is analysed for its tensile and flexural strength. The results from these tests indicate that the composites exhibit commendable tensile and flexural properties