COMPARISON OF SOME NATURAL FIBRES WITH GLASS FIBRES IN COMPOSITE DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The comparison of some natural fibres with glass fibres in composite development is a work that involves the collection of glass fibers and natural fibres and using them in the development of fibre-reinforced plastic composites. Five different fibres were collected-the natural and synthetic fibres. The synthetic fibres were the glass fibres (woven roving), while the natural fibres were the dried palm fruits, coconut, palm sponge and ukam plant fibres. Five specimens from each fibre-reinforced composite produced were tested in tension and compression and their average results determined. The analysis of the mechanical properties obtained showed that natural fibres possess mechanical properties such as strength, modulus of elasticity, total energy absorption capacity per unit volume and the total energy absorption capacity per unit weight in appreciable magnitude. For example, the tensile strengths of natural fibres like Ukam plant fibres (160 MPa) and that of coconut fibres (144 MPa) are very close to that of E-glass fibres (189 MPa). Similarly, their compressive strengths (74 MPa and 68 MPa respectively) showed that they can withstand compressive stresses like the synthetic fibres with compressive strength 89 MPa. The Ukam plant fibres, therefore proved to be the best in terms of mechanical properties compared to others. However, the low performance of dried palm fruits fibres in tensile strength (131.4 MPa) and compressive strength (62 MPa) makes them unsuitable for engineering applications that require the use of fibres.