Experimental Analysis of Fiber Reinforced Plastic Structure with Bio Filler under Impact Load

Abstract

Usage of polymers, especially fiber reinforced composites (FRP) offers several advantages to achieve effective and reliable structures which is more important for current environmental situation. In this research paper, the impact energy behavior of composite structure with filler has been investigated under impact load environment. The coconut husk is used as filler, while the epoxy resin is selected as matrix material. On the other hand, glass fibre has been used as reinforcement material. All the specimens have been prepared by hand layup technique and consolidated by using compression moulding machine at 700C, with 8 bar pressure for 5 minutes. The specimens with four different orientation and stacking sequence are prepared. The dimensions of the specimen are in accordance to ASTM standard D5628.  The experiments have been done on specimens by subjected it to the different impact energies using an impact testing machine. In the present paper, two different drop heights are selected to vary the impact energy. Various parameters viz. energy absorption, deformation and force have been evaluated from the experiments. The impacted specimens were visually inspected to study the fracture behavior with respect to position of glass fiber in the laminate. The experimental results under impact loading environment would be correlated with standard existing literature results. The final result indicates that composite with filler shows superior properties than the conventional glass / epoxy laminates under impact load environment.